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SWEDEN AND IRAN

Swedish citizen arrested in Iran

Iranian authorities have detained a Swedish man, Stockholm said Friday, threatening to strain already tense ties between the countries.

Published: 7 May 2022 12:00 CEST
The flag of Iran waves in front of the the International Center building in Vienna, Austria.
The flag of Iran waves in front of the the International Center building in Vienna, Austria. Photo: Florian Schroetter/TT

Sweden’s foreign ministry confirmed to AFP that a Swedish man in his 30s “has recently been detained”.

“The embassy in Tehran is seeking further information in the matter and is in contact with local authorities,” it said in an email, providing no further details.

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported the man was on holiday together with other Swedes when he was detained.

Relations between Sweden and Iran are already tense over a trial in Stockholm against an Iranian ex-prison official accused of war crimes over his alleged role in a 1988 purge of dissidents.

READ ALSO: Swedish court to give verdict in Iranian war crimes trial in July

Hamid Noury, 61, was arrested at a Stockholm airport in November 2019 after Iranian dissidents in Sweden filed police complaints against him.

The trial ended on Wednesday with the court due to issue a verdict in July. Earlier this week, Iran’s foreign ministry demanded Noury’s release, saying it considered his arrest and trial “illegal”.

Meanwhile, the Iranian news agency Isna reported this week that Iran plans to execute Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was sentenced to death in 2017 for spying for Israel, before May 21.

The Swedish foreign ministry last week advised its nationals against non-essential travel to Iran.

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SWEDEN AND IRAN

Two Swedes, including EU diplomat, freed in Iran prisoner swap: PM

A Swedish EU diplomat and another Swede held in Iran have been released in exchange for an Iranian serving a life sentence in Sweden, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced on Saturday.

Published: 15 June 2024 17:38 CEST
Two Swedes, including EU diplomat, freed in Iran prisoner swap: PM

Johan Floderus, who has been held in Iran since April 2022 and faced the death penalty on spying charges, and Saeed Azizi, who was arrested in November 2023, were on a flight to Sweden “and will finally be reunited with their relatives”, Kristersson said in a statement.

The announcement coincided with a statement from Iran that Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prison official jailed for life in Sweden, had been freed and would return to the Islamic republic soon.

READ ALSO: Iranian journalist in hiding in Sweden after Iran puts his name on ‘death list’

Kristersson said Iran had made Floderus and Azizi “pawns in a cynical negotiation game, with the aim of getting Iranian citizen Hamid Noury released from prison in Sweden”.

Noury, a 62-year-old Iranian former prison official, is serving a life sentence in Sweden for his role in mass executions in Iran in 1988.

“As Prime Minister, I have a special responsibility for the safety of Swedish citizens. The government has therefore worked intensively on the issue, together with the Swedish security service, which has negotiated with Iran,” he said.

“It has been clear all along that the operation would require some difficult decisions. Now we have made those decisions.”

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