Ahmadreza Jalali Protests to the Prime Minister of Sweden from Evin Prison

Following criticism of the Swedish government for the exchange of Hamid Nouri, a former deputy warden of Gohardasht Prison, for two Swedish prisoners in Iran, an audio file of Ahmadreza Jalali, an Iranian-Swedish prisoner sentenced to death, has been released in which he protests to the Prime Minister of Sweden. Some media outlets, including the Swedish newspaper Daily Expressen, reported on Tuesday, June 19, Mr. Jalali's criticism during a recorded conversation with his wife. Ahmadreza Jalali, a dual-national Iranian-Swedish doctor and researcher, accused the Prime Minister of Sweden of excluding him from the list of prisoners for exchange. Mr. Jalali was arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence when he traveled to Iran in May 2016 to attend a scientific conference. He was later sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court on charges of espionage for Israel. In this phone conversation with his wife, he addressed the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, saying: 'You decided to leave me behind despite the risk of execution.' He continued: 'I am speaking to you from Evin Prison, a terrifying cave where I have spent eight years and two months, almost 3000 days of my life.' While he expressed happiness over the release of two other Swedish prisoners from the prisons of the Islamic Republic, he emphasized: 'This is clearly a case of discrimination.' Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Sweden rejected the criticism from Ahmadreza Jalali's wife on June 17, stating that the alternative would have been to release the two other Swedes who have now returned to the country. Tobias Billström, the Swedish Foreign Minister, stated in an email to Reuters on June 19 that Sweden has not given up on Mr. Jalali and that efforts for his release will continue. Billström also mentioned that the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially rejected Ahmadreza Jalali's Swedish citizenship and does not recognize him as a Swedish citizen. He noted that the Swedish government has made significant efforts for the release of Jalali, Azizi, and Flodros but refrained from providing further details for Jalali's security. Earlier this year, a number of former 'hostages' of the Islamic Republic expressed concern in a letter to the Prime Minister of Sweden regarding the 'continued indifference' of the Swedish government and 'insufficient actions' for the release of Ahmadreza Jalali. Meanwhile, political activists and human rights defenders have strongly criticized the Swedish government's approach during the exchange of Hamid Nouri, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden for his involvement in the execution and torture of political prisoners in 1988. Shirin Ebadi, a lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, stated that the Swedish government has 'thrown dust in the face of the half-baked justice that exists in the world' by handing over a 'criminal' to the Islamic Republic. In response to these criticisms, the Prime Minister of Sweden emphasized that as Prime Minister, he has a special responsibility for the security of Swedish citizens; therefore, the government, along with Swedish security services that have negotiated with Iran, has been working intensively on this issue.