TEHRAN -- Iran’s
judiciary on Sunday confirmed a death sentence for the ringleader of a separatist group behind the 2018 deadly terrorist attack in the country, among other terrorist operations.
The Mizan news agency, affiliated with the Iranian Judiciary, reported that the verdict was upheld for Habib Farajollah Chaab, the ringleader of the Harkat al-Nazal terror outfit, which martyred dozens of people in an attack on a military parade in the southwestern province of Khuzestan in 2018 and several other bombings.
“The death sentence of Habib Farajollah Chaab on charges of corruption on earth through the formation, management, and leadership of a rebel group called Harkat al-Nazal and the design and execution of numerous terrorist operations in Khuzestan province was approved by the Supreme Court,” Mizan Online website reported.
Habib Farajollah Chaab, also known as Habib Asyud, pleaded guilty and confessed last year to masterminding the 2018 atrocity as well as many other acts of terror targeting the Iranian nation.
The defendant also admitted to being naturalized by Sweden and backed by the Scandinavian country’s government,
saying he had been provided with a device that would alert Swedish security officials to rescue him whenever he was in danger.
Chaab was arrested in November 2020 on the back of a set of “specialized and combined measures” by Iranian intelligence forces.
The Harkat al-Nazal terror outfit has been pushing to separate the southwestern province of Khuzestan — home to the country’s Arab population — from the rest of Iran by engaging in an armed conflict against the Iranian government.
In September 2018, it claimed responsibility for an attack on a military parade in Ahvaz, Khuzestan’s provincial capital, which martyred 25 people, including members of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and civilian bystanders, and injured more than 270 others.