Updated 13.29 | Published 10.53
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The Iranian prosecutor wants Johan Floderus to be sentenced to death for espionage.
The 33-year-old and his lawyer have a week to respond to the request.
– I try to think that it’s just words and games for the galleries, but it’s worrying, says his sister Tove Floderus to P1 Morning.
On Sunday, the trial against Johan Floderus ended. The 33-year-old EU official is accused of espionage.
According to the prosecutor, he should have been involved in extensive intelligence cooperation with Israel and should therefore be sentenced to Iran’s most severe punishment: death.
The news causes great concern among Floderu’s family, who followed the trial from Sweden.
– It is clear that everyone in the family is very badly affected. It comes as a crack in one’s heart to hear the death penalty in the same sentence as his brother’s name, says his sister Tove Floderus to P1 Morgon on Monday morning.
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full screen Johan Floderus was imprisoned during a holiday trip in Iran. Photo: Private / TT News Agency
“Must be very heavy”
The sister says she is trying to think logically and take stock of the analyzes that say the Iranian legal process against her brother is mostly words and games for the galleries with the aim of exerting pressure for their own political interests. At the same time, there are moments when she is reminded that Iran is not a rule of law.
She says that everyone in the family deals with anxiety in different ways and that they try to support each other. The last time they had contact with Johan was last Saturday.
She says that it is difficult to say how her brother is doing, but that he is perceived as collected and positive after all.
– But from time to time it must of course be very heavy to feel alone and abandoned and that the future is so very uncertain.
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fullscreen chevron-rightnextJohan Floderus in the courtroom.
1 / 2 Photo: AmirAbbas Ghasemi / AP
Jailed on vacation
Johan Floderus and his lawyer have a week to respond to the request for the death penalty. When asked what the sister’s hopes are before the verdict is handed down, she answers:
– It would have been terrible and completely heartbreaking if that happens. I really hope that’s not how it will be, says Tove Floderus.
Johan Floderus is in the infamous Evin Prison. He has been imprisoned in Iran since April 2022 when he was arrested during a holiday trip in the country.
Both Sweden and the EU have called the accusations false and demanded that the 33-year-old be released. Tobias Billström (M), Minister of Foreign Affairs, has so far not commented on the death penalty request.
The charges against Johan Floderus, as well as the death sentence against the Swedish-Iranian doctor Ahmedreza Djalali, have been linked to the Swedish life sentence against Hamid Noury. Assessors believe that Iran wants to use the Swedes in a prisoner exchange with Sweden.
Aftonbladet has contacted Tobias Billström via his press secretary Anna Erhardt, who says that the foreign minister will only comment on the case after the verdict.
Sweden’s chargé d’affaires was present during the trial on Sunday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes in a comment that “the embassy is in close contact with Floderu’s lawyer and is monitoring the case very closely. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has regular contact with Johan’s family”.
They further write:
“There is no basis whatsoever for keeping Johan Floderus in custody, let alone bringing him before a court. Both Sweden and the EU have presented this with great clarity to representatives of Iran.”
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full screenJohan Floderus got the news on Sunday. Photo: Koosha Mahshid Falahi / AFP
