On Saturday, Iran and Sweden successfully carried out a prisoner exchange, resulting in the liberation of Hamid Nouri, who had been convicted of war crimes related to the 1988 mass executions in Iran. In return, Johan Floderus, a Swedish individual working for the EU’s diplomatic corps, and Saeed Azizi, another individual held by Tehran, were released.
The news was reported by AP, and it was confirmed that Oman played a mediating role in facilitating the exchange, as stated by the country’s news agency.
Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi have now been released by Iran, and this was confirmed by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. In a message shared on the social media platform X, Kristersson expressed that both individuals are currently on their way back to Sweden and will soon be reunited with their families.
Floderus was detained in April 2022 at Tehran airport while returning from a vacation with friends, which highlights another instance of Tehran utilizing foreigners or individuals with dual nationality as bargaining chips in negotiations with Western countries. On the other hand, Azizi’s case did not receive the same level of attention as Floderus’. According to Human Rights Activists in Iran, Azizi, who holds both Iranian and Swedish citizenship, was sentenced to five years in prison by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court in February on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security.” The group also reported that Azizi is battling cancer.
In 2022, the Stockholm District Court sentenced Nouri to life imprisonment for his involvement in the 1988 mass executions, identifying him as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison near Karaj, Iran. The mass executions marked a grim period at the end of Iran’s war with Iraq, targeting political prisoners and militants in what would be known as the “death commissions.”
Human rights organizations estimate that around 5,000 people were executed during this period. Iran has never fully acknowledged the executions, which were reportedly carried out on the orders of Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini. Some argue, however, that other top officials were effectively in charge in the months leading to Khomeini’s death in 1989.
Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s late President who died in a helicopter crash in May, was also implicated in the mass executions.
