Iran and Sweden swapped prisoners on Saturday, breaking a deadlock that brought relief to families but also concern about Tehran capitulating to its practice of holding foreign citizens hostage on charges fabricated to gain concessions.
The Swedish prime minister said Iran had released Johan Floderus, 33, a European Union diplomat and Swedish national, who was arrested in April 2022 in Tehran, as well as Saeed Azizi, a dual citizen. nationality captured in 2023.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said: “I am delighted to announce that Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi are now on the plane returning to Sweden and will soon be reunited with their families.” speak on social media.
In return, Sweden released Hamid Nouri, an Iranian judicial official who had been sentenced to life in prison in a Swedish court for torture, war crimes and the mass execution of 5,000 dissidents in 1988, who were sent to the gallows without trial.
Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy justice minister and secretary general of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, announced the release in a post on X, saying he was happy to announce that Mr. free and will return to Iran within a few hours.”
According to a statement published by the state-run Oman news agency, the exchange was coordinated with the help of Oman. Prisoners on both sides were taken there before returning to their homeland.
A family member of Mr. Floderus said the young diplomat was on his way to Europe from Oman on Saturday afternoon.
This news was welcomed by the families of the Swedish victims as well as senior officials closely following the case.
“Delighted by the news that our Swedish colleague Johan Floderus and his compatriot Saeed Azizi have been released from unjust detention by Iran,” speak European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The European Union and Sweden kept Mr. Floderus’ April 2022 arrest in Tehran a secret until The New York Times reported on his detention in 2023, more than 500 days later.
But the swap, especially Sweden’s release of Mr. Nouri, also sparked anger and concerns about rewarding Iran for systematically detaining foreign nationals on trumped-up charges. , often for espionage or other political crimes, aimed at gaining concessions from Western countries.
Outside of Iran, Mr. Nouri’s case was hailed at the time of his conviction as a landmark legal case for cross-border justice, in which war criminals could be captured and convicted outside Their borders are based on accusations of crimes against humanity. Human rights lawyers at the time said his case paved the way for charges to be brought against officials from places like Syria, Sudan and Russia who have been accused of war crimes.
Mr. Nouri was a judicial official at Gohardasht prison near Tehran, where 5,000 people were executed in the 1988 purge. He prepared a list of names for the so-called death penalty commission of three officials, in That included the future president, Ebrahim Raisi. He then escorted the blindfolded prisoners from their cells to the commission’s room, then to the gallows after the sentencing.
On Saturday, family members of both those victims and dozens of others from around the world still detained by Iran were outraged by the exchange, many taking to social media to express their disappointment. Some of those still imprisoned, like Ahmadreza Djalali, a scientist executed for spying and helping Israel assassinate nuclear scientists, are Swedish citizens. Mr Djalali has denied the allegations against him.
“This is so shocking,” said Mariam Claren, the daughter of Nahid Taghavia, a dual German-Iranian citizen who has been a prisoner in Tehran for the past four years. “Hamid Nouri responsible for the mass massacre of political prisoners in the 80s. He was convicted in an independent and fair trial in Sweden.”
Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian charity worker, spent six years in prison in Iran on charges of political wrongdoing, has highlighted the complexity of such swaps. So.
“I’m really happy for Johan and his family, but also for Saeed,” he said. “They don’t deserve any of this. But I grieve for Ahmadreza and all the others left behind. Nothing about hostage diplomacy is fair.”
Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian humanitarian worker, spent some time in prison in Tehran with Mr. Floderus before he has been released last year during another prisoner exchange, said this was a sad moment that he himself knew very well.
“When hostages are freed, there is always joy mixed with pain,” he said. “When some people are released, that means others are not. We know that families still waiting for their loved ones are experiencing a bittersweet moment today.”
A prisoner exchange would also do nothing to help the thousands of Iranians who are unjustly and often brutally detained by the government.
For Iran, bringing Mr. Nouri back from Sweden is a major coup. He was lured to Sweden by his former son-in-law in 2019, coordinating with international law experts and the victims’ families. He was captured upon landing in Stockholm under the rarely used doctrine of universal jurisdictionempowers the authorities of any country to arrest and try any person suspected of serious violations of international law who enters its territory.
He was convicted of war crimes and was sentenced to life in prison by a Swedish court in 2022, and was appealing the sentence at the time of his release.
Vivian Nereim Contributing reports from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Farnaz Fassihi from New York.
