Amnesty International says Iran is threatening a Swedish-Iranian doctor with imminent execution in order to force Belgium and Sweden to release two imprisoned former Iranian officials and to deter Western countries from future prosecutions of other Iranian officials.
Ahmedreza Djalali, a medical doctor and lecturer at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, was arrested in Iran in 2016 during an academic visit. He specializes in disaster relief and has taught at European universities. Rights groups have condemned his detention.
SEE ALSO: 'Deeply Alarmed' UN Calls On Tehran To Halt Imminent Execution Of Iranian-Swedish DoctorHe was accused of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists.
Iran has threatened to execute him by May 21.
Amnesty and other groups say the threat to execute Djalali is tied to the current trial in Stockholm of Hamid Nouri, a former prison official, who is accused of having a role in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners at an Iranian prison in the 1980s.
Amnesty also said that Iran wants the release of Asadollah Asadi, a former Iranian diplomat who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Belgium for his role in a thwarted 2018 bomb attack in France.
"The Iranian authorities are using Ahmadreza Djalali's life as a pawn in a cruel political game, escalating their threats to execute him in retaliation for their demands going unmet," Amnesty International's Diana Eltahawy said in a statement issued on May 19.
"The authorities are attempting to pervert the course of justice in Sweden and Belgium, and should be investigated for the crime of hostage taking," Eltahawy said.
"The Iranian authorities must halt any plans to execute Ahmadreza Djalali, release him immediately and offer reparations for the harm they have caused him."
Tehran has denied the cases are linked.
SEE ALSO: Iranian Convicted Of 1992 Murder Of Dissidents Calls For Pressure On Sweden To Release Nouri