A court in Denmark finds three members of an Iranian-Arab separatist movement guilty of spying for Saudi Arabia and supporting and financing terrorism in Iran.
The Arab Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA) trio was arrested two years ago. The penalty will be determined next month. The suspects face up to 12 years in prison.
The three are on trial for spying for the intelligence service of Saudi Arabia, a major rival of Iran. In addition, the court has collected information about individuals and organizations inside and outside Denmark and about Iranian military affairs.
That information was passed on to Saudi Arabia. The judge further ruled that the three activities supported the extremist Jaish al-Adl. That movement is active in Iran and is on the US list of terrorist groups.
Prosecutors say the trio received some €4 million for the armed wing of ASMLA through bank accounts in Austria and the United Arab Emirates. The suspects do not deny the money transactions, but they say there is no connection with terrorism. Instead, they claim to oppose the repressive regime in Tehran.
ASMLA wants a state of its own for ethnic Arabs in Iran’s oil-rich southwest, which is also fighting the movement in Europe. ASMLA founder Ahmad Mola Nissi was liquidated in The Hague in 2017. One of three suspects on trial was the target of attempted murder in Denmark at the end of 2018.