Iran executes Swedish-Iranian man for alleged terrorism planning

May 6 (UPI) -- Iran on Saturday executed a Swedish-Iranian dissident who was convicted of leading a group that had carried out several deadly attacks in the country.

Habib Chaab, who was the founder of a separatist group calling for independence for ethnic Arabs in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province, was executed after being convicted of corruption charges, Iranian state media reported.

Chaab had been living in Sweden for a decade. However, in 2020 he went to Turkey and was then detained by Iranian agents and transported back to Iran.

The European Union strongly condemned the execution in a statement issued Saturday.

"The death penalty violates the inalienable right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment," EU officials said. "The European Union calls on Iran to refrain from any future executions and to pursue a consistent policy towards the abolition of capital punishment."

The bloc accused Tehran of carrying out "increasing number" of arbitrary detentions of dual EU-Iranian nationals in Iran "in direct violation of international law."

In 2018, Iranian state television showed video of Chaab purportedly claiming responsibility for an attack that year on a military parade in Ahvaz, the capital of the southwestern province of Khuzestan, that authorities said killed 25 people and wounded almost 250.

Chaab's supporters, however, have dismissed the interview as a coerced confessions.

Amnesty International has said that Iran executes more people than any other nation except China.