Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence Announces Arrest of Two Europeans
Two Europeans have been arrested on charges of “organizing riots and diverting people’s demands” in Iran. The Ministry of Intelligence described them as “experienced operatives” in its announcement. The nationality of the detainees is unclear. A notable coincidence with Nouri’s trial.
On Wednesday, May 11 (Ordibehesht 21), a statement was issued by the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence regarding the identification and arrest of two European individuals. The statement said that the detainees “had entered Iran with the aim of exploiting the legitimate demands of certain segments and classes of the country and redirecting normal demands toward rioting, social disorder, and destabilizing society.”
It was also claimed that the two “had the mission to recognize, justify, guide, network, and link corrupt domestic individuals and networks to the problems and demands of the honorable and working segments of society.”
Driving society toward “a grave wave of destruction, evil, and insecurity” is among the alleged charges mentioned in the statement.
The identity and nationality of the detainees have not been disclosed, but the statement says: “The two main elements, who are nationals of a European country and organized by intelligence services, are professional specialists in creating unrest and instability who, for years in several target countries, had trained their local operatives in executing such scenarios.”
The Ministry of Intelligence, on one hand, attributed the arrest of these individuals to “the anonymous soldiers of the Imam of the Age” and on the other hand stated that they fell into its “smart intelligence trap” based on cross-border tracking by the ministry. The statement, calling the Coordination Council of Professional Teachers’ Organizations illegal, said that all programs and meetings of the two European individuals “from the moment of entry into Iran until the time of arrest have been under complete security control and documented.”
The Ministry of Intelligence added that as soon as possible, some of the relevant audio and video documentation will be made public.
This news is announced a short time after the conclusion of the trial of Hamid Nouri, one of those responsible for the massacre of political prisoners in the 1980s, in Sweden and the issuance of a court sentence in Belgium for three accomplices of Assadollah Assadi, the diplomat who orchestrated the bombing plot at the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization gathering.
Hamid Nouri faces a life sentence after 88 court sessions and is set to receive his sentence in June. Assadollah Assadi has also been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
A few days earlier, the newspaper “Aftonbladet” reported, based on information it received, about the arrest of a Swedish tourist in Iran and linked this to Hamid Nouri’s trial.
It is said that the fate of Ahmad Reza Jalali, an Iranian-Swedish physician and researcher imprisoned in Iran, is linked to the situation of the aforementioned individuals. Jalali has been sentenced to death on espionage charges. It appears that Tehran had previously proposed an exchange of Assadollah Assadi for Ahmad Reza Jalali.
Following the conclusion of Hamid Nouri’s trial, the Islamic Republic’s judiciary announced that Ahmad Reza Jalali would be executed by the end of Ordibehesht. Iran’s judicial officials have claimed that the execution of Jalali’s sentence has no connection to Nouri’s trial or an exchange with him.
Source: DW
