It has been 8 years since the Swedish-Iranian doctor and researcher Ahmadreza Djalali was detained during a trip to Iran. It is clear that Iranian authorities are holding him hostage and are threatening to execute his death sentence at any moment in order to force Sweden to hand over the convicted former Iranian official Hamid Noury. Amnesty calls on the Swedish government to ensure that Iran releases Ahmadreza so that he can return home to his family in Sweden.
– The Iranian authorities are using Ahmadreza Djalali as part of a cynical and ruthless political game and are threatening to carry out his execution at any moment. Iran must immediately stop all plans to execute Ahmadreza Djalali, respect his basic human rights and immediately release him, says Anna Johansson, Secretary General of Amnesty International Sweden.
In April 2016, the now 52-year-old Ahamdreza Djalali was arrested in Tehran, Iran, where he traveled to lecture on emergency medicine. He was later sentenced to death for “corruption on earth”, a death sentence that Iran has repeatedly over the years inhumanely and ruthlessly threatened to carry out. Ahmadreza Djalali has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, saying he was coerced into confessing while subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.
Amnesty believes that Ahmadreza Djalali is a doctor and researcher who peacefully practiced his profession. During the highly flawed trial in Iran, no evidence whatsoever has been presented to suggest that he committed any crimes. The legal process against him has by no means lived up to international standards. During his time in prison, Ahamdreza Djalali has spent extended periods in solitary confinement under torture-like conditions. In the meantime, his mental and physical health has greatly deteriorated and he has been denied both contact with his lawyer and his family, as well as medical care. Over the years, he has been threatened several times with the execution of his death sentence, but due to international pressure, this has not yet happened.
Iran is the country that executes the most people after China and in Amnesty’s latest report on the death penalty in Iran, we were able to see a frightening increase in the number of executions in Iran in 2023. Compared to 2022, the number of executions has increased by 48% and compared to 2021, it is a increase of 172%. This has led to Iran’s prisons being turned into places of mass killing.
In recent years, it has also become increasingly clear that Iranian authorities are detaining and charging foreign nationals, citing threats to national security, in order to cruelly use those detained as pawns in an attempt to exert diplomatic blackmail. We have also been able to establish the same in the case of Ahamdreza Djalali. This is why Amnesty calls on Sweden to seek the help of other countries, including EU countries, and cooperate to counter this strategy and ensure that Ahmadreza Djalali is released.
– During the eight years that Ahamdreza Djalali has been deprived of his freedom in Iran, both he and his family have been exposed to terrible suffering. The death penalty is the most cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. As long as he is in Iran, the threat to his life remains. Amnesty continues with undiminished strength to work for his case until he is released. The Iranian authorities must stop the plans to execute Ahmadreza Djalali and release him immediately. There, Sweden plays an important and absolutely decisive role in ensuring that he will be allowed to return home to his family in Sweden, says Anna Johansson.
Manifestation in Stockholm for Ahmadreza Djalali:
On Friday, Amnesty is holding a candlelight demonstration outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where we invite the public to come and light a candle to mark the 8th anniversary of Ahmadreza Djalali’s detention.
Place: Outside the Foreign Ministry, Gustav Adolfs Torg, Stockholm
Time: 26 April at 15.30 – 16.30
Tags: Deprived freedom years government ensure Ahmadreza Djalali allowed home Sweden
