Svenska Amnesty: Djalali är ”extremt nedbruten”

Ahmadreza Djalali, also spelt Ahmad Reza Jalali, is a Swedish-Iranian academic and researcher who was sentenced to death for allegedly spying in Iran. He is a medical doctor and lecturer at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. He was also a visiting professor at Belgium's Free University of Brussels. He was arrested while visiting Iran in April 2016 and convicted for spying for the Mossad. He had earlier confessed on Iranian State Television for spying on behalf of Israel. Amnesty International stated however that the confession was taken under duress. Iran confirmed the death penalty against Ahmadreza Djalali in early February 2018. Djalali's lawyer Zouhaier Chihaoui told Le Soir in Belgium that the legal process in Iran is unjust.On 9 February 2018, United Nations human rights experts urgently called on Iran to lift the death sentence against Ahmadreza Djalali.In mid February 2018 Djalali was granted Swedish citizenship. This step aimed at a potentially better stance of the Swedish government in negotiations with the Iranian authorities in the matter. However, a spokesperson for Amnesty International criticized the timing of that act as too little and too late.