Ten Swedes of Iranian descent are named on Interpol’s list of criminals wanted for terrorism and international organized crime.
The men, all of whom hail from Iran’s Kurdistan province, came to Sweden as political refugees twenty years ago, the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper reports.
Despite being active critics of the Iranian regime for more than thirty years, the men’s names and pictures only recently appeared on Interpol’s list of wanted fugitives, following a request from Iran.
“I was obviously surprised that Interpol would simply describe us using the same words as the Iranian police. It seems very strange to me,” Khaled Haji Mohammadi, one of the men now labeled as a fugitive by Interpol, told The Local.
Mohammadi is one of twelve members of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran - Hekmatist whose names were posted on the Interpol list.
“I don't know what sort of political or economic agreement Iran may have with Interpol, but it's very surprising that Interpol would abide by the demands of a request from a regime that has executed so many of its critics.”
Mohammadi doesn't deny he has long been critical of the Islamic regime in Iran, which he claims has imprisoned and killed many fellow activists in the years since he left the country to seek political asylum in Sweden.
“I'm used to being harassed and criticized by the Islamic regime in Iran,” he said.
But Interpol's decision to agree to Iran's request to list him and his colleagues as organized criminals and terrorists left him puzzled.
read more @ the local
2. two Iranians detained in far east while sneaking on ship to Japan
Two Iranian nationals have been detained at Russia's Far Eastern port of Vladivostok while trying to sneak on to a Japanese-bound cargo vessel, a border guards spokesman said on Wednesday.
The two men, both with expired Russian tourist visas, arrived in Vladivostok two months ago and have since been seeking illegal entry into Japanese territory. One of them had a criminal record in Japan and could not enter the country legally.
"The Iranians stayed illegally in [Far Eastern region of] Primorye, without registering at an office of the Russian migration service. During this period they were seeking an opportunity to illegally enter Japan by sea," the spokesman said.
They were detained in the port early on Monday. Two days later, a court ruled to deport the two Iranians from Russia.
A total of 25 Iranian nationals trying to illegally enter Japanese territory have been detained in the Far East this year.
VLADIVOSTOK, December 30 (RIA Novosti)
3. German man wanted for supplying chemicals to....IRAN....arrested in Austria
A German man wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for supplying chemical weapons to Iran has been arrested in Austria, criminal police said on Wednesday.
The man, named only as Peter W., 67, had been on the run for 21 years after being charged in the United States with supplying Iran with 115 tons of chemicals used to produce lethal mustard gas in the late 1980s, the Austrian daily Kronen Zeitung reported.
"The arrest took place in Hall, in Tirol on December 28th," criminal police spokesman Alexander Marakovits told news agency AFP, confirming the newspaper report.
"Peter W. travelled to Austria with a false Irish passport and was here under a false name, but investigators were still able to find him," he added.
"He appears to have felt safe in Austria and it took him by surprise when he was arrested." The arrest resulted from a joint operation by Austrian criminal police, local Tirol police and US authorities, Marakovits said.
W., who had travelled to Austria with his family, is currently being held in Innsbruck until the court rules whether to extradite him. It is unclear when the decision will be made.
According to Marakovits, US investigators had been tracking W. for years. He was arrested in Croatia in 1994 but the court decided there was not enough evidence to keep him and he fled to Germany.
source: the local
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