The Ministry for Foreign Affairs confirms that a fourth Swede has been sentenced to death in Iraq.
The Ministry's press service tells TT that the verdicts concern two different crimes. Three people have been sentenced for involvement in a shooting. The fourth verdict concerns drug-related crime. A 35-year-old man, who has dual citizenship and is a resident of western Sweden, has been sentenced to death for drug offenses.
Physical and psychological torture
The 35-year-old's lawyer, Wissam Al Jiburi, tells SVT that his client has been subjected to physical and psychological torture. He met his client for the first time just half an hour before the trial started. According to him, the trial only lasted for a quarter of an hour and the family was not allowed to attend.
The lawyer believes that the punishment for drug offenses is not in proportion to the crime.
I have never experienced anything like this. They got this sentence just because they are Swedes, he says to SVT.
Iraq's chargé d'affaires
Sweden's embassy in Baghdad, currently relocated to Stockholm, has had some contact with the detained individuals and has been in touch with their relatives.
"We are not going into details at present in order not to complicate our work and due to confidentiality," writes the Ministry's press service in an email to TT.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs summoned Iraq's chargé d'affaires on Friday due to the fact that four Swedes have been sentenced to death in Iraq in the first instance.
During the meeting, Sweden's protests against the death sentences of Swedes in Iraq were expressed, and demands were made that the death penalty should not be carried out.
