Intel Ministry Arrests Swedish Citizen for Spying

Date: 30 July 2022 - 21:30

News ID: ۱۰۵۲۹۰

TEHRAN -- Iran’s intelligence ministry said on Saturday that it had arrested a Swedish citizen on espionage charges, the IRNA news agency reported.

It was not clear if the report was referring to the same person that the Swedish foreign ministry said in May had been detained in Iran. Iran did not report that arrest. The Swedish ministry said at the time that a Swedish man had been arrested.

A spokesperson for the Swedish Foreign Ministry said on Saturday the ministry could not immediately comment.

“The intelligence ministry announced that a citizen of the Kingdom of Sweden was arrested on espionage charges,” IRNA quoted a ministry statement. It did not say when the arrest was made.

“The suspect had been under surveillance by the intelligence ministry during several previous trips to Iran because of (their) suspicious behavior and contacts … for visiting cities that were entirely outside of tourist destinations,” the Fars news agency quoted the ministry statement as saying.

It said that the suspect had a history of travelling to Occupied Palestine “before leaving for Iran.”

In May, the Swedish foreign ministry said a Swedish man had been detained in Iran.

Relations between Sweden and Iran are tense after Sweden detained and put on trial an Iranian citizen. On July 14, a Swedish court sentenced the man, Hamid Noury, to life in prison.

Iran condemned the verdict, saying it was “politically motivated” and had “no legal validity”.

The Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires in Tehran to protest the sentence.

Iran’s security forces have arrested dozens of foreigners and dual nationals in recent years, mostly for espionage and security-related offenses.