Danish appeals court upholds guilty verdicts for 3 Iranians convicted on terror charges

A Danish appeals court has upheld guilty verdicts for three members of an Iranian separatist group convicted of promoting terror in Iran and gathering information for an unnamed Saudi intelligence service

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A Danish appeals court on Tuesday upheld guilty verdicts for three members of an Iranian separatist group convicted of promoting terror in Iran and gathering information for an unnamed Saudi intelligence service.

The three were arrested in February 2020 in the town of Ringsted, 60 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of the Danish capital of Copenhagen, and convicted of promoting terror over a deadly attack on a military parade in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahwaz in September 2018.

The Eastern Court in Copenhagen said Tuesday the men belonged to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz and had been gathering information about individuals and organizations in Denmark and abroad, as well as on Iranian military affairs, and passing it on to Saudi intelligence.

Prosecutor Henrik Aagaard said the case underscored “how foreign powers carry out their activities on Danish soil.”

The men, who were not identified according to Danish rules, face up to 12 years in prison. Their sentences based on the ruling by the Eastern High Court are to be announced later this year.