Group of former Iran detainees calls on Stockholm to secure release of Swedish-Iranian doctor

Joint letter appeals to Swedish government to seize 'rare opportunity for dual humanitarian action'

Vida Mehrannia (L) wife of Dr Ahmadreza Djalali attend a session of the chamber commission for external relations at the federal parliament in Brussels in April. AFP

A group of 21 former detainees freed from Iran appealed on Wednesday to the Swedish government to help secure the release a Swedish-Iranian physician who has been held on death row in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, the group said that Dr Ahmadreza Djalali has recently suffered a heart attack and his condition has declined after what it called years of "medical neglect and psychological torment".

"No more empty statements. Sweden must act with the same urgency and resolve it has shown in securing the freedom of other citizens," the group wrote, adding that treating Dr Djalali as a "second-class" citizen would be "a profound moral failure".

Dr Djalali is a physician and researcher in disaster medicine. He was detained in 2016 while visiting Iran, charged with espionage and treason, and later sentenced to death. He is a father of two.

One of the letter's signatories, Siamak Namazi, a businessman with dual US-Iranian citizenship, was held in Evan prison for nearly eight years before he was released in 2023.

Mr Namazi's release, together with three other Americans, came after he had personally pleaded with then-president Joe Biden.

“I was in the same ward with him [Dr Djalali] and was very good friends with him. I've spent extensive periods of time with them, talking to him, and it's a really sad case," he told The National.

“I was left behind several times but I was not on death row. It's horrifying.”

Last week, in a lengthy post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi implied that the detention was linked to Tehran’s lack of access to a Swedish-made treatment for epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a rare skin disease that affects hundreds of Iranian children.

Mr Araghchi said access to the medication had long been blocked due to "overcompliance with sanctions" on Iran.

"Astonishingly, Swedish authorities also decided to grant citizenship to a convicted criminal after his sentencing for serious violations: an Iranian national with ties to Sweden so strong that he barely speaks some word of Swedish," Mr Araghchi wrote in a seeming reference to Dr Djalili.

Mr Namazi said that when he saw Mr Araghchi’s post, he thought: “Let's undo two humanitarian wrongs in one fell swoop.”

The group of former detainees say Mr Araghchi's comments offer "a rare opportunity for dual humanitarian action", resolving an issue related to the sanctions regime and ending the unjust imprisonment of a Swedish citizen.

"Let us be clear: we unequivocally condemn hostage diplomacy and have consistently called for international measures to deter it," the group wrote in the letter. "But governments also have a moral obligation to rescue their innocent citizens from foreign prisons – even when doing so requires difficult but principled negotiations."

The letter comes as US President Donald Trump is touring the Gulf in hopes of securing foreign investments in the US and forging peace agreements in global conflicts.

In a speech from Riyadh on Tuesday, Mr Trump blamed Iran for instability in the Middle East, and warned that he would inflict "massive maximum pressure" if it continues to attack its neighbours and support terrorism.

His comments came amid talks between Washington and Tehran over a new deal that would put limits on Iran's nuclear programme. Iran described the latest round of talks in Oman as "difficult but useful". The US, meanwhile, has continued to hit Iran with more sanctions.