Iran confirms it arrested Swedish citizen

Tehran confirmed on Tuesday that it was holding a Swedish national who it accused of "committing crimes" in Iran.

"This Swedish citizen has committed crimes in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran," judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi said.

Last week, the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, confirmed that Johan Floderus had been held captive in Iran for over 500 days.

Floderus is a 33-year-old Swedish citizen who works for the European Union.

Iran has repeatedly imprisoned foreigners and charged them with espionage or other national security violations. Several Western governments have accused Iran of arresting foreign nationals in order to obtain concessions.

What else do we know about the arrest?

Setayeshi said that the Swedish citizen was sent "to prison with a legal order."

He said that an investigation was "being finalized" and that it would be sent to court "in the coming days."

Sweden's Foreign Ministry called for its citizen's release.

"We have noted the statement by the Iranian authorities," the ministry said on Tuesday.

"Johan Floderus is arbitrarily detained and should therefore be released immediately," it said, adding that "this has been conveyed to the Iranian authorities."

Floderus was arrested on April 2022 when he visiting Iran with friends. In July, Tehran announced that it had arrested an unspecified man on suspicion of espionage, weeks after an Iranian citizen received a life term in Sweden for his role in mass executions in 1988.

The confirmation of Floderus' arrest comes weeks after Tehran announced it had transferred five American citizens into house arrest, with their return to the US condition on a deal which would release some €5.6 billion (roughly $6 billion) in frozen Iranian assets.

sdi/jcg (dpa, AFP)