Iran and Sweden exchanged prisoners on Saturday, breaking a logjam that brought relief to families but also raised concern about Sweden’s decision to release the first-ever Iranian official to be convicted of crimes against humanity.
Iran released Johan Floderus, 33, a European Union diplomat and Swedish national, who was arrested in April 2022 in Tehran, as well as Saeed Azizi, a dual national arrested in 2023, the Swedish prime minister said.
“It is with pleasure that I can announce that Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi are now on a plane home to Sweden, and will soon be reunited with their families,” the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said on social media.
Mr. Floderus had been charged with espionage and corruption, and Mr. Azizi with “assembly and collusion against national security,” charges they have both consistently denied and that human rights advocates have called fabricated.
In exchange, Sweden released Hamid Nouri, an Iranian judiciary official who had been sentenced to life in a Swedish court for torture, war crimes and the mass execution of 5,000 dissidents in 1988 who were sent to the gallows without trial.
The swap was coordinated with the help of Oman, according to a statement published by the Omani state news agency. The prisoners on both sides were taken there before traveling on to their home countries.