Ahmadreza Jalili says he was condemned after refusing to spy for Iran


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The Iranian regime has confirmed the imposition of a death sentence on Sweden-based doctor and lecturer Ahmadreza Jalali (pictured), accused of spying for Israel.

Jalali’s lawyer said almost three weeks ago that the Supreme Court had upheld the sentence on Jalali, who was seized in April 2016 after he was invited to speak at Tehran University. The regime said Jalali, who works at Stockholm’s medical university Karolinska Institute, provided information to Israel to help it assassinate nuclear scientists between 2010 and 2012.

No evidence has been produced for the claim; however, just after the Supreme Court’s confirmation of the death penalty, State TV broadcast a “confession” by the doctor. According to Jalali’s wife Vida Mehrannia, the political prisoner said he made the statement after “extreme duress” in solitary confinement and threats to kill his children.

On Monday, Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi announced the Supreme Court’s decision and repeated the claim of the “confession”. He insisted that Jalali had met agents of Israel’s Mossad eight times and had received money from them.

Jalali has said that he was arrested after he refused to spy for Iran, a claim which has also been made by political prisoners such as US-based physicist Omid Kokabee.

Swedish officials, including the Foreign Minister, have condemned the sentence in October and said they raised the matter with Iranian diplomats in Tehran and in Stockholm. Last month, 75 Nobel Prize laureates petitioned Iranian authorities to release Jalali so he could “continue his scholarly work for the benefit of mankind”.


Judiciary Official: “Ahmadinejad is Mentally Ill”; Ahmadinejad and Co. “You’re a Nazi”

In the latest shots in their battle, Iran’s judiciary and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinjead have exchanged accusations of mental illness.

Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei said on Sunday about Ahmadinejad’s video attacks on judiciary head Sadeq Amoli Larijani, “The former President and his companions should firstly be examined by medical jurisprudence to decide whether they are mentally sound or not, since their behavior does not make sense.”

Hours later, Ahmadinejad’s senior advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr — responded, “Is it not wise to directly hospitalize and refer to the medical examiner a 60+-year old person [Mohseni Ejei] who dresses as a clergy, counts as an elder with a white beard, and occupies high state positions frivolously whistling in public and singling out himself as a clown?”

Ahmadinejad’s former Vice President Hamid Baghaei, who has been handed a 67-year sentence for misuse of public funds, compared Mohseni Ejei to the commander of Nazi Germany’s SS, Heinrich Himmler:

His motto was also “send the others to forced labor camps or sanatoriums”.

It is true that the SS has been buried and Himmler is waiting to be severely punished for his actions in the world beyond ours but his thoughts and mottos are still live and kicking among some people who follow his footsteps.

The latest exchange came despite an appeal by Tehran Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Emami Keshani for both sides to arbitrate their dispute. Mohseni Ejei hit back at the cleric — even through Friday prayers are delivered with guidelines from the Supreme Leader’s office — “What [nonsense] is arbitration? These cases tabled [by Ahmadinejad et al] definitely deserve to be legally tackled. Spreading lies and creating marginal themes will never stop judiciary fulfilling its duty.”

Ahmadinejad has renewed his campaign against the Larijani brothers — including judiciary head Sadeq, Speaker of Parliament Ali, and high-ranking judiciary official Mohammad Javad — after the former President was convicted by Parliament’s Audit of diverting $3 billion in State fund and his associates like Baghaei and Javanfekr faced prison.

See Iran Daily, Dec 24: Regime Calls for Arbitration Between Ex-President Ahmadinejad and Judiciary Head