The day after the announcement from Iran that the prosecutor is demanding the death penalty for espionage in the case against the Swedish EU diplomat Johan Floderus, the parents at home in Kungälv have a hard time grasping the news.
– It’s very tough. I’d rather not get out of bed, says Johan’s mother Kerstin Floderus.
The information for the family is the same as the public has via the news media. In his closing arguments on Sunday, the Iranian prosecutor repeated his claim that Johan Floderus conducted “very intensive intelligence work” on behalf of Israel and concluded by advocating the death penalty for the Swede, according to the Iranian state news agency Mizan.
– Knowing that it is a completely innocent man, it is absolutely terrible. It is Sweden that you somehow want to eat, but then it is an innocent man who must atone for this crime they believe Sweden has committed. It’s absolutely horrible, disgusting, that’s all it is, says Kerstin Floderus.
What do you want Sweden to do to switch places with him?
– Yes, I don’t know. It’s incredibly complicated obviously, so I really don’t know.
Johan Floderus during an earlier part of the trial. Lars Ronnås, from the Swedish Embassy in Tehran, can be seen behind him. Photo: Hossein Yarahmad/AP
According to many reviewers is the trial against Floderu’s part in an Iranian attempt to get a prisoner exchange with Sweden, in which case Iran wants Sweden to hand over the Iranian Hamid Noury, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment here for gross violations of international law.
According to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Sweden’s chargé d’affaires in Iran attended Sunday’s trial and the embassy is in close contact with Johan Floderu’s lawyer. The defense now has a week to come up with additions to the evidence. However, when the verdict will finally be announced is unclear.
Photo: Koosha Mahshid Falahi/AFP
Johan Floderus, who works with aid issues for the EU’s foreign service, was arrested on 17 April 2022 in Tehran during a private trip. Since then he has been imprisoned, with extremely limited contact with the outside world.
The family in Sweden has had about fifteen conversations with his son in the past two years. Johan Floderus has often been forced to go on hunger strike to get his right to talk to his parents through. Right now, no one knows when the next contact might be.
– We have absolutely no idea about that. Now they have said that if he goes on hunger strike again, he will absolutely not be allowed to call, says Kerstin Floderus.
How do you get that kind of information?
– We spoke to him on Saturday and then he told us. Right now I am completely destroyed.
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