STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s highest court on Thursday upheld the life sentence for the eldest of two Iranian-born Swedish brothers for spying for Russia and its military intelligence service GRU for a decade.
Peyman Kia, a naturalized Swede, was sentenced to life in January in one of the Scandinavian country’s biggest espionage cases in decades. His brother, Payam Kia, was given nine years and 10 months. They were found guilty for having worked jointly to pass information to Russia between Sept. 28, 2011, and Sept. 20, 2021.
At first, both brothers appealed the Jan. 19 sentences by the Stockholm District Court. But Payam Kia retracted his appeal last week, hours before the appeals verdict was scheduled to be announced. His lawyer, Björn Sandin, explained to Swedish broadcaster SVT that his client feared getting a higher sentence.
Thursday’s verdict by the Supreme Court was postponed a week because of that. As before, proceedings were held behind closed doors most of the time because of the sensitivity of the information.
The Supreme Court said “it has been proven that the older brother procured, promoted and disclosed (information) to the Russian intelligence service GRU.”
Between 2014 and 2015, Peyman Kia worked for Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency as well as for the country’s armed forces. Swedish prosecutors alleged that the data the brothers gave the Russians originated from several authorities within the Swedish security and intelligence service, known by its acronym SAPO.
Peyman Kia, who was arrested in September 2021, reportedly also worked for the armed forces’ defense intelligence agency. He was involved with a top secret unit within the agency that dealt with Swedish spies abroad, according to media in Sweden.
His brother was arrested in November 2021.
The case has been compared to one of Sweden’s largest spy scandals which took place during the Cold War when Stig Bergling, a Swedish security officer who worked for both SAPO and the armed forces, sold secrets to the Soviet Union. He was sentenced in 1979 to life imprisonment on similar charges and later escaped while serving his time and returned voluntarily to Sweden in 1994. He died in his native country in January 2015.
Swedish appeals court upholds life sentence in Russia espionage case
https://arab.news/6spd3
Swedish appeals court upholds life sentence in Russia espionage case
- Peyman Kia, a naturalized Swede, was sentenced to life in January in one of the Scandinavian country’s biggest espionage cases in decades
- His brother, Payam Kia, was given nine years and 10 months
With Cuban ally Maduro ousted, Trump warns Havana to make a ‘deal’ before it’s too late
- Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return
- The government has said US sanctions cost Cuba over $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela’s leader.
Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as US forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country’s oil products.
Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Hours later, Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, responded on X by saying “those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, absolutely in any way.”
The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.
“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”
Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.
Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro’s capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.
“Those who hysterically accuse our nation today do so out of rage at this people’s sovereign decision to choose their political model,” Díaz-Canel said in his post. He added that “those who blame the Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should be ashamed to keep quiet” and he railed against the “draconian measures” imposed by the US on Cuba.
The island’s communist government has said US sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.
Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of an American embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.
“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”
