Former Iranian government official Hamid Noori was released in exchange for Swedish nationals Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi.
Tehran, Iran – Iran and Sweden completed a prisoner swap, brokered by Oman, freeing a European Union diplomat and another Swedish-Iranian national in exchange for the release of a former Iranian government official.
The official Oman News Agency confirmed on Saturday that the prisoners had been transferred from Tehran and Stockholm to Muscat and then repatriated to their home countries.
Kazem Gharibabadi, head of foreign affairs at Iran’s judiciary, told X-TV that Hamid Nouri, who was convicted of war crimes and murder in Iran in 1988 and was serving a life sentence in Sweden, had been released.
Prime Minister Ulf Christersson confirmed that Swede Johan Floders and Iranian-Swede Saeed Azizi had been released from Tehran and were on their way home.
Froderas, 33, a European Union diplomat, had been held in detention for more than two years. His trial began in Iran in December and he could face the death penalty on charges of spying for Israel.
Azizi was jailed and given a five-year sentence on national security charges.
‘Tightrope walking’
Relations between Iran and Sweden have been deteriorating over the case of Nouri, who was deputy prosecutor at Gohardasht prison near Tehran and convicted of involvement in the deaths of thousands of political prisoners.
Iranian officials allege Nouri’s trial is influenced by the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), a foreign-based group that Iran considers a “terrorist” organization because of a series of bombings in the 1980s and its alliance with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.
On December 19, a Swedish appeals court upheld Nouri’s life sentence.
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said Nouri returned to Iran on Saturday. “He was warmly welcomed by the Iranian authorities and issued an initial statement saying he was very happy.”
In Stockholm, Al Jazeera’s Paul Reis said that Froderas and Azizi were due to arrive in Sweden shortly.
He said the decision to carry out the exchange was a “balancing act” for the government between several competing interests.
“Firstly, the families of the two prisoners are pressuring the government to let them return home,” Riis said. “Secondly, human rights lawyers who considered convicting Nouri in Sweden a real success would have preferred that he remain in prison.”
“Thirdly, there is a very large Iranian population living in Sweden. Many of those who claim to be persecuted in Iran and have fled there by coming to Sweden would not have wanted Nouri to be deported to Tehran.”
Iran is also detaining dual-national academic Ahmadreza Jalali, who was sentenced to death on espionage charges.
On Saturday, Amnesty International Sweden said it was concerned that Mr Jalali’s case had not been featured in the negotiations. The group said it feared he was being used as a “political pawn” to extract similar prisoner deals.
“When will he be allowed to come home?” the group wrote to X.
