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Iranian citizen plight in Sweden

The lawyer of Hamid Nouri, an Iranian national jailed in Sweden for alleged rights abuses, has told Press TV about his situation. Thomas Bodstrom says the court lacks competence to hear the accusation leveled against his client. Bodstrom said Nouri’s trial has not been quote-fair and has had so many mistakes. He said some of the witnesses introduced against the defendant have had conflict of interests in the case. The lawyer said Nouri should be acquitted despite all the evidence brought up against him. Bodstrom said his client lost valuable documents required for defense due to what the court claims to be erasing by mistake. The lawyer slammed Swedish authorities for not allowing Nouri to visit his family members. He said Nouri is entitled by law to have in-person visitations. Bodstrom said his client has now spent more than three-and-half-years in solitary confinement. He said the long period was a "record" in Sweden. 

North Korea satellite launch

North Korea says an accident occurred during its satellite launch on Wednesday, causing the rocket to crash into the sea off the west coast of the peninsula. The state media KCNA said the new engine system and rocket fuel were unstable. It said the rocket’s second stage malfunctioned. KCNA added that Pyongyang will verify the grave defects and conduct the second launch soon. Japan says the test-fire was not a satellite launch but a ballistic missile test. Tokyo had threatened to shoot down any projectile entering its territory. North Korea had notified Japan of its plan to launch its first military reconnaissance satellite. Pyongyang said the satellite was meant to monitor the military activities of the US and its regional allies. South Korea's National Security Council condemned the North’s launch as a serious provocation and a grave violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

‘West supporting genocide’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the West of quote-supporting genocide in Ukraine by favoring President Volodymyr Zelensky’s so-called peace plan. Lavrov made the statement at a meeting with Burundi’s Foreign Minister Albert Shingiro in Bujumbura. The Russian minister said the peace plan would quote-destroy everything Russian in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. Lavrov also quoted Zelensky as saying that Kiev’s forces would kill every Russian if they recapture the two regions. The war began in February 2022 with an all-out Western support for Kiev. The West has sent billions of dollars’ worth of arms and ammunition to Ukraine ever since. 

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