Iran announced on Saturday the arrest of a Swedish citizen suspected of “espionage”, without specifying his identity, amid tense relations between Tehran and Stockholm, where an Iranian citizen was recently sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry said later that day that it was an “already known file” that the ministry was “working on”, after announcing in May the arrest of a 30-year-old Swede.
“The Intelligence Ministry identified and arrested a citizen of the Kingdom of Sweden for espionage,” the Iranian ministry said in a statement on its website.
Multiple trips to Israel
The defendant had returned to Iran “a few months ago after the arrest of another European spy,” according to the same source.
According to the Intelligence Ministry, the accused had made multiple trips to Israel, a sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic, before going to Iran.
During “his multiple previous trips to Iran”, he had “communicated with European and non-European suspects under surveillance”.
The announcement comes two weeks after a 61-year-old former Iranian prison official, Hamid Noury, was found guilty by a Stockholm court of “aggravated crimes against international law” and “murder”.
Dismissal of your ambassador
Iran called the verdict “political” and called for his release. A few days later, Iranian diplomacy announced that it had recalled its ambassador to Sweden “for consultations”.
This court decision had raised fears of reprisals against Western prisoners held by Tehran, in particular the Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmedreza Djalali, sentenced to death in 2017.
The Iranian ministry warned Sweden for having “supported several spies of the occupation regime in Jerusalem (Israel, editor’s note), including Ahmadreza Djalali,” according to Saturday’s press release.
Source: BFM TV
