- This comes after a Stockholm court convicted a former Iranian official of war crimes earlier this month.
- Rights groups describe it as a tactic to win favors from abroad by inventing charges, which Tehran denies.
- Sweden’s foreign ministry said it was aware of the matter.
Iran said on Saturday it had arrested a Swedish citizen on espionage charges, officials said IRNA A Stockholm court convicted a former Iranian official of war crimes earlier this month, the news agency reported.
Iran has arrested dozens of foreigners and dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage and security-related charges. Human rights groups accuse it of being a ploy to extract favors from abroad, which Tehran denies.
“The suspect had been under the surveillance of the Ministry of Intelligence during several previous visits to Iran due to (his) suspicious behavior and contacts.” IRNA It has been said with reference to the statement of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.
He did not give a name or say when the arrest was made, but added that the suspect had a history of traveling to the Palestinian territories, visited non-tourist destinations in Iran and had contact with people under surveillance, including Europeans. used to
An intelligence ministry statement accused Sweden of “proxy espionage” by Iran’s arch-enemy Israel, which it said would prompt a “proportionate response” from Iran.
Sweden’s foreign ministry said it was aware of the matter.
A spokesman said the case involved a Swedish man who the Foreign Office said in May had been detained in Iran. Tehran did not report the arrest at the time.
Relations between Sweden and Iran have been strained since Sweden indicted a former Iranian official on war crimes charges for the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in an Iranian prison in the 1980s. Arrested and prosecuted.
On July 14, a Swedish court sentenced a man named Hamid Noori to life imprisonment.
Iran condemned it as politically motivated.
Other foreigners and dual nationals imprisoned in Iran include Ahmed Reza Jalali, a Swedish-Iranian researcher sentenced to death for spying for Israel.
