Swedish EU diplomat Floderus freed in Iran prisoner swap

3 months ago 12

Swedish EU diplomat Johan Floderus and another Swede, Saeed Azizi, both held prisoner in Iran, have been released and are on a flight home to Sweden, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced on Saturday (15 June).

Floderus, an employee with the EU’s diplomat service (EEAS), has been detained in Iran since April 2022 after paying a private visit to the country.

He had been accused of espionage, for which Iranian prosecutors had not presented any evidence, and risked being sentenced to death. In December, Floderus had gone on trial on charges of conspiring with Iran’s arch-enemy Israel.

Both he and fellow Swede, Saeed Azizi, who was arrested in November 2023, were on their way home “and will finally be reunited with their relatives”, Kristersson said in a statement.

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

“It has been clear all along that the operation would require some difficult decisions – now we have made those decisions,” said Kristersson.

The Swedish government “had worked intensively on the issue, together with the Swedish security service, which had negotiated with Iran,” he added.

In a prisoner swap, Stockholm will be releasing Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prison official jailed in Sweden, who has been freed, returning to the Islamic Republic soon, Kazem Gharibabadi, head of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, confirmed.

Noury had been serving a life sentence in Sweden, charged with crimes against humanity, for his role in mass executions in his home country in 1988. On the order of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, as many as 5,000 inmates were executed, that year.

Earlier this year, Floderus had already been considered as part of a potential prisoner exchange, but Swedish and EU officials had been careful to speak publicly about ongoing negotiations.

EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell on Saturday (15 June) thanked Swedish authorities, as well as Oman, which according to a statement published by the Omani state news agency (ONA), helped mediate the release.

“Those released were transferred from Tehran and Stockholm to Muscat today, 15 June 2024, for their repatriation,” ONA said.

“Other EU citizens are still arbitrarily detained in Iran,” said Borrell. “We’ll continue to work for their freedom” together with EU member states, he added.

The release came also days after Borrell had his first call with the new acting Iranian Foreign Minister Bagheri Kani, who assumed office last month.

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]