Iran Executes Swedish-Iranian Ringleader of Harakat al-Nazal Group

Iran executed Habib Farajollah Chaab, the ringleader of the Harakat al-Nazal group, on Saturday. The Iranian judiciary reported that Chaab was executed for conducting several “terror” operations in the southeastern Iranian province of Khuzestan. Among the attacks plotted by Chaab, a Swedish-Iranian dual national, was one on a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz in 2018 that killed 25 people and injured many others. The group’s actions have killed or injured 450 Iranian civilians, according to the Iranian judiciary. The Harakat al-Nazal group, headquartered in Denmark and the Netherlands, was founded in 1999 and has claimed responsibility for several assassinations and attacks against energy infrastructure and civilian targets over the years. The group is classified as a terrorist organization by the Iranian government. In November 2020, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced the arrest of Chaab in Turkey. In March, Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Chaab for alleged “corruption on earth,” a term that Iranian authorities use to refer to a range of offenses, including those related to violating Islamic codes.