While the relationship between Tehran and Stockholm is tense over the background of a life imprisonment sentence against former Iranian official Hamid Nuri for his role in the executions of Iranian dissidents in 1988, the Iranian Ministry of Security (Intelligence) announced today (Saturday) the arrest of a Swede on suspicion of espionage without providing clarifications about his identity. or the date of his arrest.
And the Ministry of Security stated in a statement on its website today that it had arrested a citizen of the Kingdom of Sweden on charges of espionage, indicating that the accused entered Iran months ago after the arrest of another European spy, and his mission was to obtain information about the latter, without additional details.
The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced that Tehran had arrested one of its citizens in his thirties, and it was not clear whether the Iranian ministry's announcement was related to the same person.
The ministry claimed that the suspect visited Israel before entering Iranian territory and made suspicious contacts during his previous visits to Iran, and that his arrest was ordered by the judicial authority while he was leaving the country.
On July 14, a Swedish court sentenced Nuri, 61, to life in prison after his trial on charges of committing crimes against international law, which is the term used by Swedish justice to denote crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as murder, but Tehran announced its rejection of the ruling and summoned its ambassador. In Sweden for a consultation.
The verdict issued by Sweden is classified as the first to try an Iranian official involved in crimes that mainly affected detainees and prisoners of the People's Mojahedin Organization.
Okaz (Jeddah) @okaz_online