Swedish PM hits back at criticism over controversial prisoner swap

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson hit back at criticism after Sweden released a former Iranian prison official, who was serving a life sentence for his role in mass executions in Iran in 1988, in exchange for a Swedish EU diplomat and another Swede held in Iran.

Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi, widely believed to have been arrested by Iran in order to bring about a prisoner swap and blackmail Sweden into releasing Hamid Noury, were reunited with their families over the weekend as they returned home to Sweden.

Kristersson said that Sweden had already tried all diplomatic alternatives.

“To just carry on as before and have diplomatic talks that lead nowhere and hope that at some point, in the uncertain future, they would lead to something – we believe we had exhausted those options,” he told Swedish radio broadcaster SR’s Sunday morning show.

The government has also received criticism for leaving one man behind: Karolinska Institute researcher Ahmadreza Djalali, who was jailed in Iran on espionage charges in 2017 and has been sentenced to death. Unlike the other two men, Djalali only had a Swedish residency permit when he was jailed, but was later granted citizenship by Sweden, and his wife called the decision to leave him behind “discrimination”.

“I want to ask Ulf Kristersson why my husband’s life is not valuable to him,” she told Aftonbladet. “He should be ashamed.”

Kristersson told SR that he had “a lot of respect for her disappointment, but I don’t really understand the criticism. The alternative would have been to also leave behind those two Swedes who were now able to come home.”

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in a statement that the government and Swedish security services had tried to make Djalali part of the prisoner exchange, but that Iran viewed his case as completely separate, as he was arrested years before Noury was arrested in Sweden. “Unfortunately, Iran refuses to recognise him as a Swedish citizen, or discuss him at all,” said Billström.

Swedish vocabulary: disappointment – besvikelse

Sweden’s illegal strawberry industry ‘turns over billions every year’

Swedish police just before the weekend carried out raids on strawberry vendors suspected of being linked to gang crime.

According to Aftonbladet, the raids may be linked to wanted gang leader Ismail Abdo, who is nicknamed Jordgubben (“The Strawberry”).

Police didn’t comment on specific names of gang leaders linked to the raids, but said in a statement that they had “hit a central violent actor by targeting individuals around this person and their business structures”.

It’s suspected they’ve been selling Belgian strawberries and marketing them as Swedish, and using the revenue to fund serious organised crime. Police also found children under the legal working age and migrants without legal residency permits working at the stalls.

Police believe that illegal strawberry sales turns over billions of kronor every year.

To avoid buying strawberries linked to crime, police recommends only swishing (sending money via Swedish mobile phone payment app Swish) company numbers that start with 123, and asking whether or not the vendor has a licence.

Swedish vocabulary: a strawberry vendor – en jordgubbsförsäljare

Swedish nurses’ strike continues as union rejects offer

Sweden’s major healthcare strike continues after the union rejected mediators’ offer on Friday.

The other side accepted the offer and said they had accepted “far-reaching compromises”.

“This strike is affecting the public more and more,” said the employer side’s head of negotiations.

The union on the other hand refused to budge on its demand for shorter working hours of 15 minutes less a day, but said that it was willing to continue negotiations and viewed the mediators’ proposal as the “opening of a door” which could eventually lead to agreement.

The industrial action, organised by the Swedish Association of Health Professionals (which represents nurses, midwives, biomedical scientists and radiographers), has been ongoing since April 25th, when a ban on overtime and new hires was brought in as the union demanded shorter working hours. It expanded to a full-blown strike on June 4th in some regions around Sweden.

SKR, the umbrella organisation for local and regional governments, is blaming the consequences of the strike on the union, claiming that it could risk the lives of patients. The union refutes this, saying that healthcare was already endangered before it threatened to strike.

Swedish vocabulary: to continue – att fortsätta