TEHRAN- Iran's top human rights official has denounced Sweden for denying Hamid Nouri the opportunity to see his family in person while he has been confined to a solitary confinement for almost three years.

The comments were made by Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, at a meeting with Nouri's son in Tehran on Sunday.

Nouri, a former Iranian official, was unlawfully detained in November 2019 immediately after he landed in Stockholm airport.

The official criticized the "illegal" trial of Nouri and his "arbitrary" incarceration.

He said throughout this time, Sweden has also violated fundamental human rights principles, stressing that keeping Nouri in solitary confinement for the previous 32 months is an outrage in the country's human rights record.

Additionally, Gharibabadi informed his son about the actions taken by the Judiciary and other Iranian bodies to investigate the illegal detention of the former official.
Swedish prosecutors have requested the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for Nouri, accusing the former Iranian judiciary official of prisoner abuse in 1988.

The accusations against Nouri are a result of claims leveled against him by terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization members (MKO). Nouri is charged by his accusers of participating in the 1988 murder and torture of MKO members. He categorically denies such an accusation. 

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will do its utmost to free him,” Gharibabadi underscored.

Nouri's son described the circumstances of his father's detention in Sweden, highlighting the 32-month-long harsh treatment of his father by Swedish authorities.

“Swedish authorities have not yet accepted my father’s request to visit an ophthalmologist,” he regretted.

“Although my mother and sister have traveled to Sweden to visit him, Swedish authorities have not allowed any meetings between them,” he added.  

According to the most recent reports, court officials in Sweden have relocated his cell, but his conditions have not improved, and he is still being held in a solitary cell despite major health concerns.

Nouri also revealed details of his physical abuse by Swedish police for the first time. “Three Swedish policemen inflicted severe blows on my head and ears due to which I still feel pain and problems in my ears.”

Despite his long-term solitary detention, he asserts that “no human rights organization has come to me or is following up on my case.”