Final Court Session for Swedish Citizen in Iran; Prosecutor Seeks Maximum Punishment for Flodros

The fifth and final court session regarding the charges against Johan Flodros, a Swedish citizen detained by the Islamic Republic in Iran, was held on Sunday, January 28, at the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran. According to reports from Iranian news agencies, this session, presided over by Iman Afshari in Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, included the presence of the defendant, his lawyers, an official translator, and the chargé d'affaires of the Swedish embassy in Tehran. The judge reiterated the charges of "corruption on earth," "intelligence cooperation" with Israel, and "conspiracy to commit a crime against national security" based on the indictment and asked him to present his "final defense." These charges were based on claims regarding Flodros's travels to "multiple countries" and his "presence" in "border cities of Iran," as well as his trip to Israel as an employee of the European Union. According to these reports, Johan Flodros entrusted his defense to his lawyers during this session. One of them stated that "detailed defense statements will be presented in a brief" to the court, to which the judge announced they had "one week" to submit their defense brief. Government media reports did not provide further details on the defense statements of the lawyers for this Swedish citizen in court. In this session, the "prosecutor's representative" claimed that the "information" Flodros "transferred abroad was very extensive" and had "adverse effects," requesting "severe punishment and sentencing" for him. Johan Flodros, a 33-year-old Swedish citizen and employee of the European Union's diplomatic service, was arrested on April 17, 2022, while returning from a recreational trip to Iran on charges of "espionage." According to Flodros's family, he was detained "without any valid reason or legal process." The Human Rights Watch previously stated in a statement regarding this EU diplomat that his "prolonged detention follows the pattern of arbitrary detentions of dual nationals and foreign citizens, effectively hostages, used as bargaining chips in the Islamic Republic's diplomatic disputes." Experts say that the Islamic Republic detains foreign citizens, particularly those with dual nationality, using false charges to use them as political bargaining tools, effectively taking these citizens hostage. Relations between Stockholm and Tehran soured following the arrest of Hamid Noury in November 2019 and his trial for involvement in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s. Following the confirmation of Noury's life sentence in a Swedish appeals court, the newspaper "Kayhan," whose editor is a representative of Ali Khamenei, announced that a "heavy" and "regrettable" sentence would be issued against Johan Flodros. The Swedish Foreign Ministry announced on January 17 that it had summoned the chargé d'affaires of the Islamic Republic of Iran and demanded the immediate release of Swedish citizens detained in Iran. The Swedish Foreign Ministry stated, "The government is working tirelessly and vigorously to secure the immediate release of Swedish citizens who have been detained in Iran without any reason." Some Western countries, including Sweden, have advised their citizens to refrain from traveling to Iran. Additionally, the U.S. State Department has warned American citizens about traveling to Iran, advising them to avoid travel due to the risks of terrorism, internal unrest, kidnapping, and arbitrary detentions of American citizens.