Swedish PM Demands Immediate Release of EU Employee Jailed in Iran

Swedish EU employee Johan Floderus attends a court session in Tehran, Iran, December 10, 2023. Amir-abbas Ghasemi/MIZAN/WANA (West Asia News Agency) Handout via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
Swedish EU employee Johan Floderus attends a court session in Tehran, Iran, December 10, 2023. Amir-abbas Ghasemi/MIZAN/WANA (West Asia News Agency) Handout via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
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Swedish PM Demands Immediate Release of EU Employee Jailed in Iran

Swedish EU employee Johan Floderus attends a court session in Tehran, Iran, December 10, 2023. Amir-abbas Ghasemi/MIZAN/WANA (West Asia News Agency) Handout via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
Swedish EU employee Johan Floderus attends a court session in Tehran, Iran, December 10, 2023. Amir-abbas Ghasemi/MIZAN/WANA (West Asia News Agency) Handout via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Monday demanded the immediate release of Swedish European Union employee Johan Floderus from prison in Iran.

Floderus was arrested in Iran in 2022. Iran said on Sunday it had begun a trial of the Swedish national, having charged him with spying for Israel and "corruption on earth," a crime that carries the death penalty.

"He is entirely arbitrarily detained," Kristersson told a press conference. "We demand his immediate release."

Relations between Sweden and Iran have been tense since 2019, when Sweden arrested a former Iranian official, Hamid Noury, on suspicion of torture and executions of political prisoners in Iran in the 1980s, Reuters reported.

A Swedish district court in 2022 found Noury guilty of the charges. Noury appealed the case, and an appeals court ruling is expected next week.



Italy Says No US Extradition Request for Detained Iranian Businessman So Far

A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)
A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)
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Italy Says No US Extradition Request for Detained Iranian Businessman So Far

A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)
A seagull stands in front of an Italian flag flying at half-mast on the Altare della Patri-Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AFP Photo)

The United States has not submitted any formal request of extradition for an Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini detained in Milan, Italy's justice minister said in an interview published on Thursday.
"The matter of Abedini is purely legal ... regardless of the (freeing of Italian journalist) Cecilia Sala. It is premature to talk of extradition, also because no formal request has been sent to our ministry so far," Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told daily La Stampa.
Abedini is wanted by the United States on suspicion of involvement in a drone strike against US forces in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement and said last week the detention of the Iranian national amounted to hostage-taking.
His arrest has been linked to the detention three days later of Italian reporter Cecilia Sala, who was seized in Tehran on Dec. 19 while working under a regular journalistic visa and freed on Jan. 8.