Iran’s foreign ministry has summoned Sweden’s ambassador to protest what it called the “illegal” imprisonment and trial of a former official accused of human rights abuses in 1988. Swedish prosecutors had levelled “baseless and fabricated” accusations against the official, Hamid Nouri, and Iran, the foreign ministry told Stockholm’s newly-appointed envoy, Mattias Lentz, according to state-run IRNA. The outlet also said Nouri’s trial had been influenced by the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an opposition group which Iran considers a “terrorist” organisation due to a string of bombings in the 1980s, and attacks on Iranian soil during the Iran-Iraq War with support from former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The Iranian foreign ministry also called for an end to what it described as a “political show” in Sweden’s courts, and for Nouri to be freed immediately. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/2/iran-summons-swedish-envoy-over-illegal-trial-of-ex-official) The move comes days after Swedish prosecutors called for life imprisonment, which is the maximum sentence, for Nouri during his 89th court session. Nouri was arrested in 2019 upon arrival at Stockholm airport, and his trial began in August 2021, after Swedish authorities invoked the principle of “universal jurisdiction”.