Sweden acknowledges 'mixed feelings' over Iran prisoner swap deal

Swedish Prime Minister says it was a difficult decision to free Iranian war criminal in return for two Swedish nationals detained in Iran

EU diplomat Johan Floderus is reunited with his family at Arlanda airport in Stockholm, Sweden, after being detained in Iran. AP

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he understood the "mixed" reaction after his country freed an Iranian national convicted of war crimes in return for the release of two Swedes detained in Iran.

Iranian national Hamid Nouri returned to Iran on Saturday after being freed from Swedish prison as part of a prisoner swap deal mediated by Oman.

Nouri was serving a life sentence after being 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.

Sweden freed him on Saturday, in return for the release and return home of Swedish citizen and EU diplomat Johan Floderus and dual national Saeed Azizi, who Mr Kristersson said had been "imprisoned without reason by Iran".

In a news conference after their release, Mr Kristersson said he understood that the swap had been "received with mixed feelings," but that he stood by the "difficult" decision.

"These are two people who have experienced hell on earth," he said.

"I understand how this is received with mixed feelings, not least among Swedes who stem from Iran. This was not an easy deliberation the government has had to make, but sometimes you have to do difficult things and do what is right."

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson holds a press conference to discuss the return of the detainees in Stockholm, Sweden. EPA

Floderus, 33, was detained in Iran in April 2022 at Tehran airport as he was returning from a trip with friends. He was charged with spying for Israel and "corruption on earth," which carries the death penalty.

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

Sweden said he had been detained illegally and demanded his immediate release.

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

Sweden's government said the Swedish-Iranian dual national had been arrested on "wrongful grounds" and called for his release.

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 highlighted his deteriorating health condition and said he had prostate cancer.

Swedish citizen Johan Floderus, right, is greeted by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at Arlanda airport near Stockholm. AFP

Mr Kristersson said that both men had been used as "pawns" by Iran with the aim of securing the return of Nouri.

"Iran used them both as pawns in a cynical negotiations game with the purpose of getting the Iranian citizen Hamid Noury released from prison in Sweden. He is convicted of serious crimes committed in Iran in the 1980s," Mr Kristersson said.

"As prime minister I have a special responsibility for Swedish citizens' safety. The government has therefore worked intensively on the issue, together with the Swedish security services which have negotiated with Iran."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the release of them from "unjustified Iranian custody" and congratulated Sweden on its work to get them freed.

Saeed Azizi and John Floderus pose for a photo after they landed at Arlanda airport near Stockholm, Sweden. AFP

'An affront'

But a lawyer on the Nouri case and rights groups have criticised the release of Nouri as part of the deal.

Lawyer Kenneth Lewis, who represented a dozen plaintiffs in the Nouri case in Sweden, told Reuters that his clients were not consulted and were "appalled and devastated" over his release.

"This is an affront to the entire justice system and everyone who has participated in these trials," he said.

Mr Lewis said his clients sympathised with the Swedish government's efforts to get its citizens home but said Nouri's release was "totally disproportionate".

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of groups based in exile opposed to the Iranian government, said the decision appeared to show that Sweden had yielded to blackmail and hostage-taking tactics in a move that would encourage Tehran.

Hamid Nouri in court in Sweden. Photo: Wikipedia

The Iranian government claimed Nouri had been imprisoned by an "illegal Swedish court decision that lacked legitimacy" and welcomed his return.

"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.

It comes after Iran and the US agreed to a prisoner swap last year.

In September, 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.