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Turkey has arrested eleven people accused of participating in the kidnapping of Swedish citizen Habib Chaab in Turkey in October. Chaab is accused in Iran of being a leader of the separatist movement ASMLA, which Tehran describes as a terrorist organization.
– In immediate relation to the fact that we received the information, we follow it through our foreign authorities in Turkey and Iran. And we have also raised the case with the ambassadors of Turkey and Iran here in Stockholm, says Erik Karlsson in the press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
TT: Has the Iranian ambassador been called?
– I have no information that he was called. But we have had a dialogue and presented our opinions.
Known for the case
The Foreign Ministry became aware of the case as early as October, but has not been allowed to meet with Habib Chaab through the so-called consular entrance.
Iranian state television has shown a report in which Chaab admitted various crimes. According to the evaluator, it is believed that the recognition was forced. It is a common practice in Iran, according to human rights groups.
– We found this information disturbing. Work is ongoing, both in Stockholm and in our foreign authorities in the countries concerned, says Karlsson.
Suspect of terrorism
Iran alleges that Chaab was involved in a 2018 terrorist attack in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, in which 25 people were killed. Many of the victims belonged to the Revolutionary Guard of Iran.
The separatist movement ASMLA wants to see an independent state in the province.
The Foreign Ministry is following the case in parallel with the Swedish-Iranian researcher and doctor Ahmadreza Djalali, who has been sentenced to death and whose information has stated that the execution may be imminent. In that case, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ann Linde (S), and also the EU, have spoken out strongly against Iran.
“We have demanded that the death penalty not be carried out,” he said in November.
TT has contacted Linde regarding the Habib Chaab case, but she declines to comment on that matter.
Filip Norman / TT
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