An Iranian-Swedish dissident detained in Iran for more than a year will be on trial for “bombings” against an Arab separatist group, according to an indictment published on Sunday.

Habib Chaab disappeared during a visit to Turkey in October 2020 and appeared a month later in a video broadcast by Iranian state television in which he confessed to stealing and working with Saudi intelligence.

Iran accuses him of leading a “terrorist group called ASMLA”, Mizan online the agency said, referring to an Arab separatist group.

The ASMLA or Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz is designated as a terrorist group by Iran.

Chaab is also accused of having “planned and carried out a number of terrorist acts, including bombings in the province of Khuzestan, and of having destroyed public property”. Mizan online noted.

A date for the trial was not provided.

In the video broadcast by Iranian state television in November 2020, Chaab also claimed responsibility for an attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz two years earlier that left at least 29 people dead.

Such videos are common in Iran and are frequently condemned by rights groups who argue that confessions are often forced and the result of torture.

In December 2020, Turkish authorities announced the arrest of 11 people suspected of espionage and alleged they kidnapped Chaab on behalf of Iran.

That same month, Stockholm complained that it had not been granted consular access to Chaab, who was living in exile in Sweden where he had obtained Swedish nationality.

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