ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - In a prisoner swap on Saturday, Sweden released a high-ranking Iranian official sentenced to life for war crimes during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, while Iran released two Swedes.
The agreement was mediated by Oman.
“The Omani efforts resulted in the two sides agreeing on a mutual release, as the released persons were transferred from Tehran and Stockholm to Muscat in preparation for their return to their countries,” Oman’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
As part of the deal, Tehran agreed to release Swedish nationals Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi in exchange for Sweden freeing Hamid Noury, an ex-Iranian official who was arrested upon landing at Stockholm airport in 2019.
Noury worked as an assistant to the deputy governor of the Gohardasht prison, in Karaj, near the Iranian capital of Tehran, where about 5,000 prisoners were killed by order of then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Against the backdrop of the Iran-Iraq war, on July 26, 1988, thousands of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group crossed the border into Iran with the support of Iraqi air force, the last major offensive before a United Nations ceasefire came into effect.
The Iranian government placed the country’s prisons on lockdown and rumors soon emerged that the prisoners had been killed and their bodies had been dumped into mass graves. Those killed had been incarcerated for their opposition to the Iranian regime, including followers of MEK.
Noury, 63, was convicted of aggravated crimes against international law and murder by the Stockholm district court in 2022. The sentence was upheld by the Swedish judiciary in December 2023.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also announced the release of Floderus and Azizi by Iran, whom he said were arrested on false grounds.
“Iran has made them both pawns in a cynical negotiating game, with the aim of getting Iranian citizen Hamid Noury released from prison in Sweden... As Prime Minister, I bear a special responsibility for the safety of Swedish citizens,” read a statement from Kristersson.
Floderus, a European Union diplomat, was arrested in April 2022 upon arrival at Tehran airport. His trial started in December, accused by Iranian authorities of “corruption on earth, extensive measures against the security of the country, and extensive cooperation with Israel.” The prosecutor called for the death penalty.
Kazem Gharibabadi, vice-president of Iran's judiciary authority and secretary general of its High Council for Human Rights, also announced that Noury, who has been in “illegal detention in Sweden” since 2019, was set to return to Iran shortly.
Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim released footage on Saturday afternoon of Noury being warmly welcomed on his arrival in Tehran.