Karim Mohammedzadeh ( fa, کریم محمدزاده; b. 1 July 1963 – 1 April 1990) was a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

dissident who was

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in 1990. Karim Mohammedzadeh was born in Iranian Kurdistan and came to Sweden as a political refugee in 1988 and immediately gained the

right to asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

. On 1 April 1990 he was assassinated in his apartment in the town of Nynäshamn south of

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. The murder remains officially unsolved. However, the Iranian government is widely believed to have ordered the assassination as it had many similarities with other assassinations and assassination attempts on eastern Kurdish dissidents around the world at this time. In 2003,

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

showed a documentary film about the case by filmmaker Oscar Hedin. In the film, titled ''I nationens intresse'' ("In the Interest of the Nation"), an Iranian intelligence officer named

Reza Taslimi Reza is a Persian name, originating from the Arabic word , ''Riḍā'', which literally means "the fact of being pleased or contented; contentment, approval". In religious context, this name is interpreted as ''satisfaction'' or "''perfect content ...

was identified as the probable assassin. The Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) was severely criticised for having obstructed the criminal investigation carried out by the local Swedish police by withholding important information. For example, it was alleged that Taslimi had been identified by a taxi driver, who had driven him from Nynäshamn to Stockholm the day after the murder. However, this information was passed to the local police investigators three years after the assassination and by this time Taslimi had already left Sweden after having been arrested by SÄPO one year earlier on unspecified grounds and secretly deported back to Iran. Arne Nilsson, a retired police officer who was working with the case, said in the film: "It's terrible. One of the most vicious crimes has been committed and we didn't get the opportunity to hear a person of much interest for the investigation ..When we see what they ÄPOhave withhold from us, it feels very unsatisfactory".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohammedzadeh, Karim 1963 births 1990 deaths 1990 murders in Europe Assassinated Iranian Kurdish dissidents Iranian people murdered abroad People murdered in Sweden 1990s assassinated politicians in Asia Assassinated politicians in 1990