Mohammad Davoudzadeh Loloei: New symbol of Iranian terrorism in Europe

Ali Ragab

On Thursday, a Danish court upheld a seven-year prison sentence for a Norwegian of Iranian origin for espionage and complicity in a failed plot to kill an Arab-Iranian opposition figure in Denmark.

The case prompted Denmark to call for sanctions against Iran at the European Union level in 2018 after the Norwegian man was arrested.

“A jury in the Eastern Supreme Court unanimously found an Iranian man guilty of unlawful intelligence activities and complicity in the attempt to murder an exiled Iranian,” the Danish Attorney General said on Twitter on Thursday.

Prosecutor Mads Kruse told Reuters that the accused, Mohammad Davoudzadeh Loloei, had been sentenced to seven years in prison and permanent expulsion from Denmark.

Loloei was arrested in October 2018 as part of a massive police operation as Denmark temporarily closed its borders. A local court sentenced Loloei at the beginning of last year to seven years in prison, and then the ruling was appealed.

Who is Loloei?

Mohammad Davoudzadeh Loloei, 39, was arrested at the request of the Danish government at the airport in Gothenburg, Sweden, while returning from Iran on October 21, 2018. He was recruited ten years ago by the Iranian regime’s intelligence ministry.

Loloei was wanted by the judiciary for his involvement in the terrorist plot against Arab citizens of Denmark. His active links with the ambassador and the Iranian regime’s embassy in Norway once again prove the fact that the mullah regime’s embassies, representations and diplomats are actively participating in terrorism and espionage by taking advantage of diplomatic facilities, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

On November 3, the government-run newspaper Iran affiliated with President Hassan Rouhani’s clique, wrote an article under the title “The necessity for firm follow-up in the Denmark case”, in which it said, “If there was a link between the arrested person and Iranian citizens… it was certainly out of the reach of officials in the country, so a serious and resolute step must be taken to cut off the roots of such spontaneous actions.”

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded in a session of the regime’s Shura Council held on November 5 to a question posed by a representative regarding the secret addendums to the nuclear agreement, saying, “We are not a spontaneous organization… Are we able to practice work in this country without reporting on it?”

A statement from the NCRI’s representative in Oslo said, “Davoudzadeh was arrested upon his return from Iran on October 21, 2018 at Gothenburg airport in Sweden at the request of the Danish government on suspicion of involvement in terrorist plots against Iranian dissidents. He had been sent to Norway in 2008 to introduce himself as a refugee and to obtain Norwegian citizenship. This provided him with many facilities to perform the duties assigned to him by the Ministry of Intelligence. He traveled to Iran many times despite his refugee status. This is a betrayal of all the refugees, and his refugee status is completely revoked under the Geneva Convention and Norwegian law.”

The statement added that Loloei was assigned a mission to approach the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) and the NCRI’s office in Norway last year, but the subsequent investigations highlighted the suspicion of him being a mercenary of the regime, so the authorities in Norway were informed of the matter in detail to prevent future espionage and terrorist plots.