Suspicion of “espionage”
Iran arrests Swedish citizen
7/30/2022, 11:51 p.m
The relationship between Tehran and Stockholm has been tense for some time – a court ruling in Sweden has caused resentment in Iran. Now the mood has deteriorated once more. A Swedish citizen is arrested on suspicion of “espionage” in Iran.
According to the government in Tehran, a Swedish citizen has been arrested in Iran on suspicion of “espionage”. The country’s intelligence ministry “identified and arrested the man,” the ministry said on its website. Relations between Tehran and Stockholm have been strained for a long time.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry told the AFP news agency that it was an “already known case” that the ministry was working on. In May, the Foreign Ministry announced the arrest of a 30-year-old Swede in Iran.
Sweden-Iranian relations, which have been strained for months, deteriorated in mid-July following a Swedish court ruling. In Stockholm, Hamid Nuri, a former head of an Iranian prison, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in mass executions of opposition figures.
Iran described the verdict as “politically motivated” and called for Nuri’s release. A few days later, Iranian diplomacy announced that it had recalled its ambassador to Sweden “for consultations.”
The Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadresa Jalali has been imprisoned in Iran. He was sentenced to death for espionage in 2017 and is currently awaiting the execution of the sentence. The human rights organization Amnesty International had accused Tehran of using him as a “hostage” to force an exchange with Nuri.
