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Sweden Says Swedish National Arrested in Iran


FILE — The Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 5, 2023.
FILE — The Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 5, 2023.

A Swedish man in his twenties was arrested in Iran earlier this month and is being held in custody, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

It declined to share any further details on the arrest. However, relations between Sweden and Iran have been tense since 2019 when Sweden arrested a former Iranian official for his part in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s.

"The embassy in Tehran is in contact with local authorities. The Foreign Ministry is in contact with relatives in Sweden," the ministry told Reuters in an email.

Iran, in late December, said it would keep seeking the release of the former Iranian official sentenced to life in prison in Sweden.

Earlier in December, Iran began the trial of a Swedish national, Johan Floderus, a European Union employee who has been imprisoned since April 2022. He is charged with spying for Israel and "corruption on earth," a crime that carries the death penalty.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson demanded the immediate release of Johan Floderus in December.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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