Iran, Sweden free prisoners in Oman-mediated swap

AFP | Tehran, Iran

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Iran and Sweden announced yesterday a prisoner exchange that saw a former Iranian official jailed in Sweden freed as Stockholm said Tehran had released a European Union diplomat and a second Swede.

"Hamid Noury, who has been in illegal detention in Sweden since 2019, is free and will return to the country in a few hours," Kazem Gharibabadi, head of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, said in a post on social media platform X.

Shortly afterwards, Sweden's prime minister said Johan Floderus, an EU diplomat, and another Swedish national who were held in Iran had been released and were on a flight home. Floderus, 33, had been held in Iran since April 2022 accused of espionage.

He risked being sentenced to death. The other Swede, Saeed Azizi, had been arrested in November 2023. They were on their way home "and will finally be reunited with their relatives", Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.

Gharibabadi said the release of Noury was thanks to efforts led by late Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who died in a helicopter crash alongside president Ebrahim Raisi in May.

The official Oman News Agency (ONA) later said Tehran and Stockholm had agreed, following mediation by Oman, to the "mutual release" of nationals detained in both countries. "Those released were transferred from Tehran and Stockholm to Muscat today, 15 June 2024, for their repatriation," ONA said.