Danish Court Confirms Iran’s Findings
The three members of the so-called Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA) were arrested two years ago and have been in custody since.
The defendants face prison sentences of up to 12 years for numerous offences, including providing information about Danish and foreign organizations and individuals to a Saudi Arabian intelligence service.
The court will decide on sentencing in March.
All three defendants also face potential deportation, and one also risks having his Danish citizenship revoked, the report said.
The three men were also convicted of endorsing attacks against Iran and supporting the takfiri group Jaish al-Adl, which operates in Iran and is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States.
The three were arrested in February 2020 in Ringsted, 60km (40 miles) southwest of Copenhagen.
The court said most of the proceedings were held behind closed doors because of the “relationship with foreign powers and for the safety of the accused and others”.
The case of the three members of the London-based group was linked to a case in the Netherlands where police had arrested a 40-year-old man.
Dutch police said that the ASMLA group carries out attacks in Iran, mainly against Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), as well as oil and gas fields.
It also was linked to a 2018 police operation in Denmark over a false flag plot to purportedly kill one or more opponents of the Iranian government and blame it on the Islamic Republic.
The operation briefly cut off the island on which Copenhagen sits from the rest of Denmark.
Tehran has accused ASMLA of an attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz in September 2018, that left at least 25 people martyred.
The Danish court said it had found one of the three guilty of expressing his approval of the attack.
Denmark’s Security and Intelligence Service started an investigation into the case involving the three men in November 2018.
On Wednesday, ASMLA ringleader Habib Farajollah Chaab, also known as Habib Asyud, appeared in court in Tehran for the third trial session, with the prosecution presenting evidence showing the Saudi and Israeli sponsorship for the separatist outfit.
Amin Vaziri, the prosecutor’s representative, said Chaab is accused of corruption on earth through forming, managing and heading the ASMLA, as well as planning and carrying out terrorist operations, and destroying public property.
“Members of this terrorist group visited Saudi Arabia annually under the guise of Hajj to carry out the plans dictated by the Saudi intelligence agency. These plans included actions against innocent citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.
Vaziri displayed the picture of a meeting between the Saudi culture minister and an ASMLA member, who was arrested in the Netherlands for terrorist acts and sentenced to four years in prison. He further showed the photo of an invitation sent to the militant by the Saudi king.
Another picture showed a meeting between the ASMLA spokesman and the Saudi king.
Additionally, the prosecutor’s representative pointed to ties between the ASMLA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency. He also presented written documents that showed Chaab had dealings with former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The defendant, Vaziri said, has over the past years infiltrated non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and even charities to attract and organize ASMLA members.
As the trial continued, images were displayed of intelligence and military elements of the terrorist group, who freely engage in terrorist acts against innocent Iranians in Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Chaab was arrested in November 2020 by Iranian intelligence forces following a series of “specialized and combined measures”.
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