Johan Floderus, an EU official and Swedish citizen, has been detained in Iran for more than a year on espionage charges. This information was revealed in an article in The New York Times on Monday, the 4th of September, and neither the EU nor the Swedish government had previously commented on the arrest, writes Politico.
Floderus was detained at Tehran airport in April 2022 when he returned from vacation and has been held for more than 500 days in Evin prison.
The European Commission on Monday refrained from commenting on the case. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in a statement to Politico:
“The government has worked and is working very intensively on this case.”
As Peter Stano, the Commission’s spokesperson on foreign affairs and security policy, said, the Swedish citizen is a person arbitrarily imprisoned and should be released immediately. Stano also noted that the number of arbitrary detentions of EU citizens is increasing and confirmed efforts to secure the release of all arbitrarily detained EU citizens in cooperation with both the EU and Iranian authorities.
The family of Floderus has expressed its deep concern and heartache at his imprisonment in Iran. They have acknowledged that everything is being done to secure his release and have stressed the urgency of his release.
The New York Times reports that Floderus’s arrest is the latest case of
Iran using the “hostage diplomacy” model to extract concessions from the West.
The arrest news caused strong responses within the EU.
Swedish liberal MEP Emma Wiesner has called on EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to act. Swedish MEP Abir Al-Sahlani has also expressed her outrage at the lack of information on Floderus arrest. German Green MEP Hannah Neumann criticised the European External Action Service (EEAS) for failing to inform the European Parliament about the arrest.
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