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RFL/RE – The wife of Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian physician sentenced to death in Iran, said on July 2 that she was “devastated” after meeting Sweden’s foreign minister to discuss her husband’s case.
Vida Mehrannia has strongly criticized the Swedish government for not including Djalali in a controversial prisoner swap deal with Iran last month.
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As part of the deal, Stockholm released Hamid Nouri, an Iranian former prison official sentenced to life in prison for his role in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988 in exchange for Swedish citizens Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi.
“They told me, as always, that they’re pursuing the case. They say the same thing at every meeting. But after eight years and three months, still nothing has happened,” Mehrannia said after her meeting with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom. “I am devastated.”
Djalali has been on a hunger strike since June 26 to protest against being left out of the prisoner exchange deal.
“He has a weak pulse and has stomach problems,” Mehrannia told a gathering of supporters after the meeting.
Djalali was detained in 2016 and subsequently sentenced to death for allegedly spying for Israel. He has denied all charges. Stockholm granted Djalali Swedish citizenship in 2018, though Billstrom says the authorities in Tehran consider him only to be an Iranian citizen.
The Swedish government has been under pressure by rights groups and activists for freeing Nouri and for failing to at least secure the release of the only Swedish citizen in Iran who is facing the death penalty.
Western governments and rights groups have long accused Iran of detaining dual citizens to use them as bargaining chips against the West.
At least eight other European citizens are currently held in Iran, including Jamshid Sharmahd, a German citizen of Iranian descent who has also been sentenced to death.
