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Iran Prisoner Says Sweden Left Him Behind in Jail

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
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Iran Prisoner Says Sweden Left Him Behind in Jail

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)

A Swedish-Iranian dual national has accused Sweden's prime minister of leaving him out of a prisoner swap in a call from the Iranian jail where he remains incarcerated, daily Expressen reported on Tuesday.

The two countries carried out a prisoner exchange on Saturday, with Sweden freeing a former Iranian official convicted for his role in a mass execution in the 1980s while Iran released two Swedes being held there.

Ahmadreza Djalali, an emergency medicine doctor, remains in Tehran's Evin prison after he was arrested in 2016 while on an academic visit to Iran.

Djalali was sentenced to death in 2022 on charges of spying for Israel, and Iran's judiciary in the same year ruled out a prisoner swap for him.

"You chose to leave me behind, with a high risk of being executed," Djalali said in a telephone conversation with his wife Vida Mehrannia, who recorded it and shared it with the newspaper. His comments were addressed to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, AFP reported.

"I am speaking to you from Evin prison. It's a terrible cave, where I've spent eight years and two months, almost 3,000 days of my life," Expressen quoted him as saying.

"I'm very happy that the other two were released. One Iranian-Swedish, the other Swedish. But it is clearly a case of discrimination," he added.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Saturday that Iran had refused to even consider Djalali a Swedish citizen after he received citizenship in the Nordic country, where he lived and worked prior to his arrest, while in Iranian prison.

Billstrom said in an emailed comment to Reuters on Tuesday that Sweden had not given up on Djalali and would continue efforts to have him freed.

"The government and the security services did everything possible to ensure that Djalali would come home together with Floderus and Azizi," Billstrom said, adding that he was due to have a previously scheduled meeting with Djalali's wife.

"As the prime minister has said, he has a great understanding of the despair Djalali and his family feel. They have our deepest sympathy ... For the sake of Djalali's own safety, we cannot say more than what we have already said."

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Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
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Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)
A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)

The Philippines ordered evacuations Wednesday ahead of Typhoon Usagi's arrival, as the UN's disaster office sought $32.9 million in aid for the country after recent storms killed more than 150 people.

The national weather service said Usagi -- the archipelago's fifth major storm in three weeks -- would likely make landfall Thursday in Cagayan province on the northeast tip of main island Luzon.

Provincial civil defense chief Rueli Rapsing said mayors had been ordered to evacuate residents in vulnerable areas, by force if necessary, as the 120 kilometers (75 miles) an hour typhoon bears down on the country.

"Under (emergency protocols), all the mayors must implement the forced evacuation, especially for susceptible areas," he told AFP, adding as many as 40,000 people in the province lived in hazard-prone areas.

The area is set to be soaked in "intense to torrential" rain on Thursday and Friday, which can trigger floods and landslides with the ground still sodden from recent downpours, state weather forecaster Christopher Perez told reporters.

He urged residents of coastal areas to move inland due to the threat of storm surges and giant coastal waves up to three meters (nine feet) high, with shipping also facing the peril of 8–10-meter waves.

A sixth tropical storm, Man-yi, is expected to strengthen into a typhoon before hitting the center of the country as early as Friday, Perez said.

With more than 700,000 people forced out of their homes, the successive storms have taken a toll on the resources of both the government and local households, the UN said late Tuesday.

About 210,000 of those most affected by recent flooding need support for "critical lifesaving and protection efforts over the next three months", the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

"Typhoons are overlapping. As soon as communities attempt to recover from the shock, the next tropical storm is already hitting them again," UN Philippines Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said.

"In this context, the response capacity gets exhausted and budgets depleted."

The initiative "will help us mobilize the capacities and resources of the humanitarian community to better support government institutions at national, regional and local levels," Gonzalez added.

More than 28,000 people displaced by recent storms are still living in evacuation centers operated by local governments, the country's civil defense office said in its latest tally.

Government crews were still working to restore downed power and communication lines and clearing debris from roads.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people and keeping millions in enduring poverty.

A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.