KN. Iran and Sweden exchanged prisoners. Iran released a Swedish diplomat and a man with dual Iranian-Swedish citizenship. Meanwhile, Sweden released a former Iranian official who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a Swedish court regarding the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in Iran in 1988.
The prisoner exchange was mediated by Oman. “Oman’s efforts resulted in an agreement between the two parties to mutually release detainees, while the freed people were flown in from Tehran and Stockholm,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Hamid Nouri (63), a former Iranian official and Sweden detainee, was tried and convicted in a Swedish court for his involvement in mass executions in Iran. He was traveling as a tourist when he was arrested by Swedish law enforcement at Stockholm Airport in 2019. During the trial, he was found guilty of war crimes related to the mass executions and torture of political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, Iran in 1988.
Nouri denies the charges that have been brought against him. Through a statement reported by Iranian media, a spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described him as a hostage. It was also mentioned that Nouri’s prison sentence is an illegal decision by a Swedish court that has no legitimacy.
Floderus, a European Union diplomat, was detained in Iran in 2022. He was charged with spying for Israel and “corruption on earth.” In Iran, the charge carries the death penalty. Meanwhile, Saeed Azizi, who has dual Iranian-Swedish citizenship, was arrested in Iran, November 2023. The Swedish government accused his arrest of being based on false reasons.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated that diplomats Floderus and Azizi, who were recently released by Iran, went through hell on earth during their arrest and imprisonment. “Iran has made these two Swedish citizens pawns in negotiations to release their citizen, Hamid Nouri, from Sweden,” said Kristersson.
Meanwhile, in Tehran, an Iranian television station aired footage of Nouri walking with a limp, disembarking from a plane at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, and being welcomed by his family. “I am Hamid Nouri, I am an Iranian citizen. God has freed me,” Nouri said on television.
He several times mocked the Mujahideen e-Khaliq group regarding his release. Mujahideen e-Khalik is an anti-Iranian government resistance group.
Responding to Nouri’s release, the lawyer for the victims of the Iranian government, Kenneth Lewis, who was involved in prosecuting Nouri, stated that his clients were never informed of Nouri’s release plans. He expressed sympathy for the Swedish Government’s steps in releasing their citizens detained in Iran. “However, Nouri’s release is an disproportionate measure,” said Lewis.
Nouri was once a deputy public prosecutor at Gohardasht Prison in the Iranian city of Karaj. The prison became one of the places of torture and mass executions of Iranian opposition groups.
In 1988, mass executions were carried out against Iranian opposition groups at the end of the Iraq-Iran war. Iran’s great leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini at that time accepted the peace proposed by the UN. Suddenly there was an attack on Iran launched by thousands of people from the Mujahideen e-Khalik opposition group, armed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The international HAM group estimates that at least 5,000 people were sentenced to death by the Iranian Death Commission. The Iranian government has never officially acknowledged the mass executions on Khomeini’s orders. However, several Iranian officials were admitted to being involved in the purge of opposition groups, which took place before Khomeini died in 1989.
The late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month, was also involved in the mass execution of the opposition group.
The prisoner exchange agreement between Iran and Sweden cannot be separated from the role of the Sultanate of Oman. This country is a neighbor of Iran, separated by the Strait of Hormuz. Oman has long been an intermediary in relations between Iran and the Western world.
This exchange of prisoners occurred before the celebration of Eid al-Adha for Muslims around the world. In some Muslim countries, Eid al-Adha is often used to release prisoners.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran stated that Nouri was a hostage and his detention was the result of Sweden’s illegitimate and non-legitimate trial. In retaliation for Nouri’s capture, Iran detained diplomat Floderus at Tehran Airport in April 2022 after he finished his vacation with friends. Floderus was held for several months before his family learned of his detention.
Regarding Azizi, who holds dual Iranian and Swedish passports, human rights groups in Iran reported that Azizi was sentenced to five years in prison by the Iranian Revolutionary Court for allegedly conspiring against national security. Azizi is known to have cancer.
The Head of Foreign Policy and Security of the European Union, Josep Borrell, praised the release of the two Iranian prisoners. “Some EU citizens are still being held in Iranian custody. We continue to fight for their release,” Borrell said in a tweet through the X account.
Azizi and Floderus landed at Stockholm Airport. They were greeted by Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson. Speaking to journalists in Stockholm, Kristersson confirmed that both citizens are now free and in Sweden.
This prisoner exchange does not free Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish citizen of Iranian origin who is a medical expert. The United Nations mentioned that Djalali has been held by Iran since 2016. He could be executed after being found guilty of corruption charges on earth in a court ruling in 2017.
The trial of Djalali was called by the human rights group, Amnesty International, as a fraudulent trial at the Iranian Revolutionary Court (kompas.id)