BTN News: Swedish-Iranian prisoner exchange A significant diplomatic move: Sweden and Iran conducted a prisoner exchange in a deal facilitated by Oman on Saturday. It was part of an exchange that also saw Sweden release a former Iranian official convicted for involvement in the mass execution of prisoners in 1988, while Iran released two Swedish citizens who had been detained.
In separate statements, Israel and Hamas confirmed that a prisoner swap had indeed taken place and Oman’s foreign ministry announced that its mediators had succeeded in facilitating the exchange. “Omani efforts led to the release of the released [prisoners], who left Tehran and Stockholm on Thursday,” the Omani foreign ministry said.
Iranian Convict Released in Sweden
In November, Sweden released Hamid Noury, a fugitive who had been convicted to life in prison for partaking in a massacre of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that Noury arrived Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, where he was welcomed by family on a red carpet.
Noury was convicted for his participation in a 1988 mass execution and torture, carried out within Gohardasht prison in Karaj, Iran. Noury was arrested at a Stockholm airport on 15 March 2019 and denied the charges. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said the ruling was an “illegal Swedish court decision that lacked legitimacy” and that Sweden could not judge the “well-established” court system in Iran. Noury said that when he returned, he told his difficulty in recalling the details of his case, “They told me, ‘Hamid Noury, not even God can free you, but he did.
Release of Swedish Citizens
Johan Floderus, an EU employee who was detained in 2022 and accused of entering Iran with a forged visa, and Saeed Azizi, a Swedish-Iranian dual national detained in November on what Swedish officials said was false pretext, are the two Swedish citizens Iran freed. According to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, they were in good health when they arrived back in Sweden late on Saturday.
Iran was playing a “cynical negotiation game” using the detainees as leverage to get Noury freed, Kristersson said. But he said it was up to the government to protect the people of Sweden – and he commended the work that Swedish security services had put into the case.
Controversial Reactions
The exchange has sparked considerable outrage. Iran’s Islamic Republic government (which the National Council of Resistance of Iran only supports), condemned the swap on the grounds that Sweden had only acquiesced to something like blackmail, effectively giving Tehran confidence in possibly a sound way to behave. Kenneth Lewis, an attorney for some of the Noury plaintiffs, spoke of his clients’ shock at Noury’s release, describing it as an injustice.
Responses in Europe and Continued Action
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also greeted the Swedes’ release, calling it an “unjustified Iranian custody” of the citizens and commending Sweden’s diplomacy. But Sweden’s Foreign Ministry said another Swedish-Iranian dual national, Ahmadreza Djalali, was still incarcerated in Iran. Djalali was arrested while on an academic visit in 2016, and his case is still pending. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said they were working to free Djalali and it would still be a priority, though the work may have been harmed by the security services.
Prime Minister’s Address
There were concerns among many in Sweden, particularly the country’s large Swedish-Iranian community, over the swap, Prime Minister Kristersson said In a late-night press conference he asked for the Swedes not to be bothered after their release, and tried to show the delicacy of the decision by describing a government’s role in protecting its citizens as part of a dilemma with moral aspects.
The swap would be a controversial and significant chapter in Sweden-Iran relations, demonstrating how international diplomacy has to balance justice with political realities.
