30 July 2022; MEMO: Iran has confirmed its arrest of a Swedish citizen on charges of espionage, two months after it was first reported by foreign media.
According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), a statement by Iran's intelligence ministry "announced that a citizen of the Kingdom of Sweden was arrested on espionage charges."
The state-affiliated Fars News Agency further quoted the ministry's statement as saying that "The suspect had been under surveillance by the intelligence ministry during several previous trips to Iran because of (their) suspicious behaviour and contacts…[and] for visiting cities that were entirely outside of tourist destinations."
The suspect – whose name and details have not been revealed – also reportedly had a history of travelling to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories "before leaving for Iran."
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In an email to the Reuters news agency, Sweden's Foreign Ministry said it is aware of the situation, with a spokeswoman stating that it is "a known and ongoing case which the Foreign Ministry has been working on for a while."
The Swedish citizen's arrest was first announced by news outlets back in May, but it was not directly or openly acknowledged by the Iranian government or its news agencies at the time.
It comes at a time when relations between Tehran and Stockholm have deteriorated sharply, particularly after a Swedish court this month sentenced Hamid Nouri – a former Iranian official – to life in prison on charges of war crimes for the mass execution and torture of political prisoners at an Iranian prison in the 1980s.
