Hamid Nouri's health worsening as illegal detention continues: Laywers

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
20 May 2023 13:22
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Nouri's lawyer says that the 3.5 years Nouri spent in detention should qualify as record-breaking and that the treatment he is subjected to by jailers was "very heinous."

Hamid Nouri at the Swedish Court of Law. (Wikimedia Commons)

Iranian prisoner Hamid Nouri's lawyers say his health has deteriorated as a result of the treatment he has received in Swedish detention centers, stressing that his 3.5 years in solitary confinement is the longest any person has ever spent in any jail in any country to date.

Hanna Larsson, Nouri's lawyer, told Mizan news agency that the 3.5 years Nouri spent in detention should qualify as record-breaking and that the treatment he is subjected to by jailers was "very heinous."

The lawyer added that Nouri's family is prohibited from paying a visit as Swedish authorities have inhumanely rejected the request. "He is entitled to have in-person and virtual meetings, but no meeting is held," Larsson said, noting that the prison authorities have also deprived Nouri of accessing his laptop and iPad over the past weeks.

She further said that Swedish authorities prevented Nouri from accessing crucial documents required for his own defense at the court, noting that the prosecutor had falsely claimed that the documents were handed over to him. "These documents were of great value to our client and now we cannot defend him as we should and be ready for defense," Larsson said.

She added that her client's health has been deteriorating, noting that Nouri's eyesight has weakened severely and that the latter had attempted to arrange an appointment with an ophthalmologist but the request was once more inhumanely denied.

Nouri's other lawyer, Thomas Bodström, confirmed all of Larsson's remarks and said that the trial process has so far been very unfair.

He was immediately arrested upon his arrival in Sweden in April 2019. He was accused by the terror organization Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group of alleged crimes against humanity.

On 14 July 2022, Swedish prosecutors called for his life imprisonment and expulsion with a permanent bar from re-entering Sweden and ordered him to pay damages amounting to 1.2 million SEK.

According to Swedish laws, a foreign individual can't be tried in internal courts under international legitimacy if they (the foreigner) are present in the country against their will, which is the defense the lawyers of Nouri claimed that their client arrived in Sweden against his own will.

The 62-year-old has been put in solitary confinement since his illegal arrest. His next appeals court hearing is scheduled to be held on May 29.