Latest news with #Iranian-Swedish
Local Sweden
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Sweden urges Iran to release dual national
Sweden's foreign minister on Friday urged Iran to release a dual national academic who has been held on death row in Tehran for nine years. Advertisement Iranian-Swedish national Ahmadreza Djalali, 53, was sentenced in 2017 on a charge of spying for Israel. He had been arrested in 2016 while he was in Iran for a conference. Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said he was being held in "very difficult conditions" and his poor health was worsening and a cause for concern. "The Swedish government demands that Iran immediately release Ahmadreza Djalali on humanitarian grounds so he can be reunited with his family," she said in a statement. She and the government were doing all they can to secure his release, she added in a message to Djalali's family. Iran's ambassador to Sweden was called in about the detention last month. In June last year, Swedes Johan Floderus -- an EU diplomat detained in Iran since April 2022 -- and Saeed Azizi, who was arrested in November 2023, were released in a prisoner swap with Iranian national Hamid Noury. Noury, 63, is a former senior official in the Iranian prison service and was serving a life sentence in Sweden. Advertisement Djalali was not included in the swap, which his wife, who lives in Stockholm, has criticised on several occasions. The Swedish government maintains it did all it could to obtain his release at the same time as the two other prisoners but without success, as Tehran refuses to discuss his case, as it does not recognise his Swedish nationality. The families of a number of Western or dual nationals being held in Iran, as well as NGOs and diplomats, accuse the Islamic republic of using them as bargaining chips.
Local Sweden
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Iran summons Swedish ambassador over minister's 'rogue state' comments
An Iranian ministry statement said it had made a formal protest to criticise "inappropriate statements and unfounded and interventionist accusations of the Swedish minister of education against the Islamic Republic of Iran". The ministry said it told Ambassador Mathias Otterstedt that the remarks were "contrary to the standards of international law and diplomatic norms". The spat comes after Swedish Education Minister Johan Pehrson compared Iran to a "rogue state" in an interview with Swedish daily Expressen published in late February. "Iran is a rogue state from which many Swedes have fled. They have institutionalised misogyny, anti-Semitism and sponsor terrorism," Pehrson was quoted as saying. Also on Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called the Swedish minister's reported remarks "unacceptable and devoid of truth and reality". The diplomatic summons comes after the Swedish government on Friday asked Tehran to free Ahmadreza Jalali, an Iranian-Swedish academic sentenced to death in 2017 after being charged with espionage. Sweden called for Jalali's "immediate release on humanitarian grounds so that he can be reunited with his family" and called for his "immediate access to the medical care he so clearly needs". Jalali, who was granted Swedish nationality while in jail, in mid-January accused Stockholm of not taking sufficient action to obtain his release. On June 15th last year, Tehran freed two Swedes, Johan Floderus, an EU diplomat who had been held since April 2022, and Saeed Azizi, who was arrested in November 2023, in exchange for Hamid Noury, an Iranian former official serving a life sentence in Sweden. Iran's judiciary does not recognise dual nationality, so did not refer to the release of the two Swedes as a prisoner swap.
LBCI
08-03-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Sweden asks Iran to free ailing academic on death row immediately
Sweden on Friday demanded the immediate release of Ahmadreza Jalali, an ailing Iranian-Swedish academic on death row in Iran since 2017. Summoning the Iranian ambassador, Sweden called for Jalali's "immediate release on humanitarian grounds so that he can be reunited with his family" and called for his "immediate access to the medical care he so clearly needs," the foreign ministry said in a statement. AFP
Khaleej Times
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Sweden calls for 'immediate release' of ailing academic on Iran's death row since 2017
Sweden on Friday demanded the immediate release of Ahmadreza Jalali, an ailing Iranian-Swedish academic on death row in Iran since 2017. Summoning the Iranian ambassador, Sweden called for Jalali's "immediate release on humanitarian grounds so that he can be reunited with his family" and called for his "immediate access to the medical care he so clearly needs," the foreign ministry said in a statement. The ministry also said it had reiterated a request to visit Jalali in jail. In mid-January, Jalali accused the Swedish government of not taking sufficient action to obtain his release. Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. "It seems to not be a priority for the Swedish officials, what may happen to me as a Swedish citizen while I risk dying either by execution or due to poor health," he said in a message forwarded to AFP by his wife, Vida Mehrannia. His remarks came as German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi was released from Tehran's Evin prison and returned home, just days after Iran released Italian journalist Cecilia Sala. On June 15 last year, Tehran freed two Swedes, Johan Floderus, an EU diplomat who had been held since April 2022, and Saeed Azizi, who was arrested in November 2023, in exchange for Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prisons official serving a life sentence in Sweden. But Jalali, whom Iran sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges and was granted Swedish nationality while in jail, was left out of the swap. The government has insisted that it tried to obtain Jalali's release at the same time as Floderus and Azizi. Western countries have for years accused Iran of detaining their nationals on trumped-up charges in a policy of state hostage-taking to use them as bargaining chips to extract concessions. On Friday, the Swedish ministry reaffirmed its opposition to the death penalty and demanded that the sentence passed on the Swedish-Iranian would not be carried out.
