Tehran has recalled its ambassador to Sweden for consultations to protest the conviction and life sentence handed to an Iranian for involvement in mass executions in 1988.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani announced the move late on July 20, one week after a Swedish court sentenced former Iranian prison official Hamid Nouri to life in prison for crimes committed during the purge of dissidents more than three decades ago.
Hamid Nouri
According to Iranian media reports, Kanani said Nouri's sentence was based on "baseless, distorted, and fabricated" accusations and said that for this reason, Tehran recalled its ambassador from Stockholm for consultations.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry had already condemned the sentence as politically motivated and summoned the charge d'affaires of the Swedish Embassy in Tehran.
Nouri, 61, was convicted of a "serious crime against international law" and "murder" and sentenced to life in prison, the Stockholm district court said in a statement on July 14.
Nouri, who has denied the charges, can appeal the verdict and sentence. He is the only person so far to be tried in the mass executions.
The killings targeted members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, a political-militant organization that advocated the overthrow of Iran's clerical regime.