Oman brokers prisoner swap deal between Iran and Sweden

Former Iranian prison official serving life sentence freed in exchange for EU diplomat and dual national who were imprisoned in Iran

Swedish EU diplomat Johan Floderus was put on trial in Iran on charges of conspiring with Tehran's arch-enemy Israel. AFP

Iran and Sweden have agreed to a prisoner swap, mediator Oman said on Saturday.

Tehran announced that Iranian national Hamid Nouri, convicted of war crimes by Sweden over mass executions carried out in 1988, had been freed and would return to Iran.

On the same day, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced that Swedish citizen and EU diplomat Johan Floderus, as well as dual national Saeed Azizi, had been released "after being imprisoned without reason by Iran".

Oman's Foreign Ministry said the sultanate had brokered the agreement between the two countries, and that the prisoners had been transferred through its capital Muscat.

An official confirmed on Saturday that Nouri, 62, a former Iranian prison official, had been freed and would return to Iran soon.

"Hamid Nouri, who has been in illegal detention in Sweden since 2019, is free and will return to the country in a few hours," Kazem Gharibabadi, head of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On December 19, a Swedish appeals court confirmed a life sentence for Nouri.

He was found guilty of "grave breaches of international humanitarian law and murder" over his role in a purge, in which at least 5,000 prisoners were killed in Iran in 1988.

Following his conviction, Iran summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires to protest against the sentence.

Hamid Nouri, convicted of war crimes by Sweden in 2019, has been freed as part of a prisoner swap with Iran. Photo: Wikipedia

On Saturday, Sweden's Prime Minister welcomed the return of Floderus and Azizi.

"The Swedish government has worked intensively for them to be released. Today, they will land on Swedish soil and be reunited with their families and loved ones. Welcome home!," he said on X.

In December, Floderus went on trial in Iran on charges of conspiring with Tehran's arch-enemy Israel.

Floderus, 33, had worked as an aide to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, and in the European External Action Service.

He was arrested on April 17, 2022, at Tehran airport as he was returning from a trip with friends.

Mr Kristersson had demanded the immediate release of Floderus on December 11.

Azizi, 60, was arrested in November 2023 after returning from Sweden to Iran.

In March, a Tehran court upheld a five-year-sentence for Azizi on charges of assembly and collusion against national security.

He was held in Iran's notorious Evin prison. Azizi's lawyer had previously highlighted his deteriorating health condition and said he had prostate cancer.

The exchange takes place after the US and Iran agreed to a limited prisoner exchange last year.

In September last year, Tehran confirmed five Iranian citizens detained in the US would be released in exchange for five Americans held in Iran.

“Under a prisoner swap deal between the two countries, the five Iranian nationals who were held illegally for circumventing Washington’s anti-Iran sanctions will be released,” Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York said at the time.

The announcement by the Iranian mission came after the Biden administration issued a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of US sanctions.

Iran has been accused of imprisoning foreign or dual nationals and using them as bargaining chips in negotiations.