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Iranwire – Amnesty International has called on Iranian authorities to immediately release Johan Floderus, a Swedish diplomat working for the European Union who has been “arbitrarily” detained in Iran for a year and a half.
Floderus was arrested while visiting Iran in April 2022 “amidst indications the Iranian authorities are holding him hostage…to compel Swedish authorities to swap him for a former Iranian official imprisoned in Sweden,” the London-based human rights watchdog said on October 19 in a series of posts on social media platform X.
Iran’s authorities must immediately release Johan Floderus, a Swedish national & an employee of the EU, arbitrarily detained in Iran since his arrest on 17 April 2022 amidst indications the Iranian authorities are holding him hostage… 1/5 pic.twitter.com/nv6vOYPBAj— Amnesty Iran (@AmnestyIran) October 19, 2023
Western governments and rights groups have repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of taking dual and foreign nationals hostage for the sole purpose of using them in prisoner swaps or as a bargaining chip in international negotiations.
Relations between Stokholm and Tehran have been tense since 2019, when Sweden arrested a former Iranian official, Hamid Noury, for his involvement in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s. Noury was sentenced to life in prison last year, prompting the Islamic Republic to recall its envoy to Sweden in protest.
Floderus worked for the European Union’s External Action Service.
Pending his release, the Iranian authorities must “protect him from torture and other ill-treatment, ensure that he is provided with access to regular phone calls…to family, adequate medical care, a lawyer of his own choosing and unhindered consular assistance from the Swedish authorities,” Amnesty said.
The group also called for a “prompt, independent, effective & impartial investigation into those suspected of criminal responsibility for the unlawful acts against Johan Floderus, including torture & hostage-taking,” and said that those suspected of such offenses must be “brought to justice in fair trials.”
