EU must stand up for jailed Iranian scholar Ahmadreza Djalali. Egmont Commentary 1 December 2020.

Pauwels, Caroline and Mattelaer, Alexander (2020) EU must stand up for jailed Iranian scholar Ahmadreza Djalali. Egmont Commentary 1 December 2020. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

A Swedish citizen faces capital punishment without a fair trial. The EU cannot afford to stay silent. In a faraway prison, an Iranian-Swedish scientist awaits execution. Ahmadreza Djalali, a specialist in disaster medicine sentenced to death for allegedly collaborating with Israeli intelligence, was told last week that his execution is imminent. Faced with this grim development, Sweden and Belgium, as well as the NGO Amnesty International, have deployed all possible means to halt his execution. If the European Union is serious about defending the rule of law and the rights of its citizens, it needs to come out strongly in defense of Djalali too. It cannot allow Djalali, like other dual citizens before him, to be reduced to mere pawns in a game of geopolitical chess.

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