Iran and Sweden announced a prisoner exchange with the release of a Swedish European Union diplomat detained by Tehran and a senior Iranian official imprisoned in Sweden on Saturday June 15.
The freed prisoners were on their way back to their country on Saturday afternoon, via the Sultanate of Oman, which served as an intermediary in the negotiations between Stockholm and Tehran, according to the Omani news agency.
“Hamid Noury, illegally detained in Sweden since 2019, is free and will return in a few hours”declared the head of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights, Kazem Gharibabadi, in a message posted on the social network This 63-year-old Iranian was arrested in 2019 in Stockholm and then sentenced to life imprisonment in the Scandinavian country for his role in the mass executions of opponents ordered by Tehran in 1988.
Two Swedes released
For its part, Sweden announced the releases of Johan Floderus, a European Union diplomat detained in Iran since April 2022, accused of espionage and risking being sentenced to death, and of Saeed Azizi, arrested in November 2023 They are on their way back. “and will finally find their loved ones”, welcomed the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson.
The prisoners’ file has greatly strained relations between Sweden and Iran in recent years, which demanded the release of Hamid Noury and criticized a biased trial.
This exchange of prisoners comes three days after the release of Frenchman Louis Arnaud, who had been detained in Iran since September 2022. Iran detains around ten Western nationals including three Frenchmen, and is accused by several capitals of using them as bargaining chip in state-to-state negotiations.