Iran reprieves scientist facing execution for espionage

A Swedish-Iranian scientist facing execution in Iran for espionage on Wednesday has been granted a reprieve, his lawyer has said.

Ahmadreza Djalali was not been transferred out of Evin prison in Tehran to Raja’i Shahr jail as expected on Tuesday night, his lawyer said, which would have been a prelude to his killing.

It was not immediately clear if the reprieve was temporary or arose from the intense public and diplomatic pressure placed on the Iranian authorities to re-examine his case.

His wife, Vida Mehrannia, made media appeals, including to the Guardian, on Tuesday night urging European governments to come to her husband’s aid. There had also been an intense campaign by Amnesty International, but the mood on Tuesday night had been one of foreboding.

Ann Linde, the Swedish foreign minister, had spoken last week to the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, urging that his case be re-examined.

An Iranian national and resident of Sweden, Djalali is a medical doctor, lecturer and researcher in disaster medicine who was arrested in April 2016 after being invited by Iran to a conference. A video of his confession was aired on Iranian state TV in December 2017 after he was charged with helping Israel prepare attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists.

UN human rights experts said in 2017: “The procedure against him was marred by numerous reports of due process and fair trial violations, including incommunicado detention, denial of access to a lawyer, and forced confession.”

The UN said he had been “reportedly threatened with torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and threatened with being sentenced to death through an expedited process” and then “forced to repeat dictated statements before video cameras”.

He was sentenced to death in October 2017 and the supreme court reaffirmed the sentence in November.

There have been reports that the threatened execution could yet be linked to the trial in Belgium of an Iranian diplomat. Assadollah Assadi, who was serving at the embassy in Vienna, is accused of providing explosives to two individuals to bomb a rally of the opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran near Paris on 30 June 2018. Iran may be seeking to organise a prisoner swap, as it has on previous occasions. Belgian prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison sentence.

Sophie Wilmès, Belgium’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, spoke with Zarif to “discuss consular issues” on Wednesday, Iranian news agencies reported. Iran is claiming diplomatic immunity for Assadi and he has refused to appear in court.

Wilmès also condemned the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last Friday. Iran claimed on Thursday to have identified the individuals responsible for bringing weapons into the country, but gave no details.