TEHRAN- The architect of a deadly terrorist attack in southwest Iran in 2018 was executed on Saturday.

The death sentence was carried out against Habib Farajollah Chaab, also known as Habib Asyud, the ringleader of the so-called Harkat al-Nazal terrorist and separatist group, according to the Mizan news agency. 

The death penalty against him was confirmed by the Supreme Court on March 12 on charges of corruption on earth through establishing, managing, and leading a militant group called “Harkat al-Nazal”. The group orchestrated and carried out numerous terrorist operations in the oil rich province of Khuzestan.

Last year, he pled guilty and admitted to masterminding the 2018 massacre as well as several other terrorist crimes against the Iranian people.

Chaab acknowledged receiving Swedish citizenship and government support and said to have received a gadget that would notify Swedish security personnel to his whereabouts anytime he was in danger.

The defendant was questioned by Judge Iman Afshari about whether he acknowledges that he is a Swedish national and receives help from the government and intelligence agencies of that country which he answered that the Swedish government supports him and that he is a resident and national of Sweden.

“They gave me a device so I could press its button when I felt danger, and it would alert the Swedish government security agents, and they would rescue me wherever I was,” he confessed. 

During the session, the prosecutor’s representative Amin Vaziri said that Sweden had become a refuge for terrorist organizations including PJAK, the Nadhal Movement, and the MKO.

“Chaab is a Swedish citizen and has been receiving support from the Swedish government while he has had a red warning and has been under prosecution of international organizations,” he added.

The prosecutor’s representative mentioned that Chaab was detained in Poland in 2019 after traveling there to attend a conference of terrorist organizations, but the Swedish government intervened and the U.S. administration started lobbying to have him returned to Sweden on a special flight so that he could mastermind terrorist activities there.

During his prosecution, Chaab also said Saudi Arabia spent €30 million for the establishment of Iran International, a London-based anti-Iran TV channel, which raised controversy on the day of the Ahwaz attack by allowing a spokesman of the Al-Ahwaziya terrorist group to go live on air to defend the bloodshed.

Last year, Kazem Gharibabadi, Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, said that Sweden was the terrorist group’s primary stronghold, with its ringleader located there and the Swedish secret service providing him and his companions with considerable assistance.

“Even when Habib Asyud was arrested at request of the Iran Interpol in one of the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf region, the Swedes intervened immediately and returned him to Sweden on a private flight. Sweden has also been home to members of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO),” Gharibabadi added.

“Why does Sweden claim to be an advocate of human rights, fight against terrorism and a world of peace, security and stability, while it is hosting terrorist groups?” he questioned.

The terrorist supported by Sweden was apprehended in November 2020 as a result of “specialized and joint measures” carried out by Iranian security forces.

The terrorist group Harkat al-Nazal has been waging an armed battle with the Iranian government in an effort to sever the southwestern province of Khuzestan, which is home to the nation’s Arab majority, from the rest of Iran.

It claimed responsibility for an attack on a military parade in Ahwaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan, in September 2018, which killed 25 people, including members of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and civilian spectators, and injured over 270 others.