Iran executed Swedish citizen: Sweden FM
STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s international minister on Wednesday mentioned that Iran had executed a Swedish citizen, after Iranian authorities introduced the primary execution of a person convicted of spying for the reason that begin of its conflict in opposition to Israel and the USA.Maria Malmer Stenergard instructed AFP that she had learnt late Tuesday that the sentence was more likely to be carried out.“We instantly contacted Tehran, in fact, and I attempted to rearrange a gathering with my counterpart to ask him to right away droop the execution, however sadly, he was unavailable,” she instructed AFP.She didn’t determine the citizen who was executed.Earlier, Iran’s judiciary information company Mizan On-line mentioned a person named Kouroush Keyvani was executed for spying for Israel, and that he was arrested throughout Iran’s 12-day conflict with Israel in June final yr.It listed particulars of alleged conferences with brokers from Israel’s Mossad spy company and mentioned he had acquired coaching in “six European nations and in Tel Aviv”.This was the primary public announcement of such an execution since Israel and the USA launched strikes on Iran on February 28, killing its supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggering the conflict that has unfold throughout the Center East.The person had obtained Swedish citizenship in 2019. When requested concerning the causes for his journey to Iran, Stenergard declined to remark. Since his arrest, “now we have executed all the pieces in our energy to attempt to change this case. Now we have been in touch at varied ranges, each in Stockholm and in Tehran,” she mentioned.– Entry denied –Sweden had made a number of requests for consular entry. “However Iran doesn’t take into account this individual a Swedish citizen and due to this fact didn’t grant this entry,” Stenergard mentioned.“This has, in fact, difficult our means to acquire info,” she added.In a separate assertion, she mentioned she had acquired the information that the execution had been carried out with “dismay”.“It’s apparent to us that the authorized course of which led to the execution of the Swedish citizen was not carried out in accordance with the rule of regulation,” she added in that assertion.Based on the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), two extra folks had been hanged in 2026 following convictions for espionage: Ali Ardestani on January 7 and Hamidreza Sabet Esmailpour on January 28. The NGO documented not less than 13 related executions in 2025. In the course of the 12-day conflict final yr, a major variety of folks had been arrested, accused of spying for Israel. Main questions stay concerning the destiny of prisoners presently held in Iran.“Current statements by the pinnacle of the judiciary … have heightened issues concerning the doable pronouncement and swift implementation of dying sentences for espionage,” IHR warned. Iran has arrested tons of of individuals in current days suspected of collaborating with Israel and the USA, in response to native media reviews. On Sunday, police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan spoke of the arrest of 500 folks suspected of espionage and of “passing info to the enemy and anti-Iranian media”. One other Swedish-Iranian, Ahmadreza Djalali, has been imprisoned in Iran for practically 10 years. He was convicted in 2017 of collaborating with Mossad.