Coinciding with the trial of Hamid Nouri, one of the perpetrators of the massacre of political prisoners in the 1980s, Swedish media, including Aftonbladet and Expressen, reported that a former Swedish security police chief had been arrested for spying for the Islamic regime of Iran between 2011 and 2015. Local and Persian language sites have introduced this Iranian person as Peyman Kia, 41 years old. Having obtained Swedish citizenship, he worked as one of the directors of the Swedish Security Police (SAPO) and previously spied on a Swedish military organ under the guise of an analyst.
Peyman Kia was arrested last Monday, and on Thursday Stockholm court ordered his detention on charges of grossly and unlawfully abusing his position and access to classified information and violating national security, so he could not destroy documents or escape the country. Peyman Kia is accused of espionage for obvious reasons, the Swedish Security Service said in a statement.
He is said to have introduced himself with a background in the security police and was later promoted to another position in another department. To this end, he referred to his work in the security police as well as the armed forces, and stated that in his senior position he had access to classified and highly sensitive files and reached the highest rank in the security police hierarchy, and was cooperating with the Director (SAPO) Senior at the time. In his initial job application, he identified his job as an archivist and project manager in promoting work methods and obtaining intelligence and investigative information.
“I gained a lot of experience in the various jobs I worked in, and I was able to advance research and analysis and gather enough information to make decisions,” he wrote elsewhere. “These experiences gave me the ability to improve working methods and processes in various fields,” he said.
