Iran Tries European Union Employee from Sweden Accused of Spying for Israel

Illustration of Iran. (Wikimedia Commons/Sonia Sevilla)

JAKARTA - Iranian authorities announced Sunday they had begun the trial of a Swedish citizen employed by the European Union, on charges of spying for Israel and "corruption on earth", a crime punishable by death.

Iran's judiciary news agency, Mizan, said in an online report on Sunday that Johan Floderus' trial had begun. He was charged "based on corruption on earth, widespread activities against national security (and) extensive intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime," referring to Israel, as reported by Reuters, December 11.

It is known that corruption on earth is a serious violation according to the laws in force in Iran.

The court said Floderus operated through projects by US and European agencies to gather intelligence for Israel. It said another hearing would be announced at a later date.

Earlier, Sweden said on Saturday that the trial of Floderus, who was detained in April 2022 while on holiday in Iran, had begun, but did not say what he was charged with.

"Johan Floderus has been arbitrarily detained and every accusation and indictment is false," a Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman said in emailed comments to Reuters.

"We have communicated this clearly to Iran at different levels and at different times, the most recent being yesterday," he continued.

Separately, Floderus' family said he was detained "without justifiable reason or process".

Human rights groups and Western governments have accused Iranian authorities of seeking political concessions from other countries, through arrests on possibly trumped-up security charges.

However, Tehran said the arrests were based on criminal law, denying it detained anyone based on political reasons.

Relations between Sweden and Iran have been tense since 2019, when Stockholm arrested a former Iranian official for involvement in mass executions and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s.