Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi, who had been imprisoned in Iran, landed in Sweden on Saturday evening.
But a third Swedish citizen, Ahmadreza Djalali, was missing from the plane.
Unfortunately, Iran refuses to recognise him as a Swedish citizen, says Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (The Moderate Party).
At 21:20 on Saturday, the plane carrying the two Swedish citizens landed in Sweden. Shortly afterwards, Saeed Azizi and Johan Floderus were reunited with their families at Arlanda Airport after months and years, respectively, in Iranian captivity.
This is about two people who have experienced hell on earth and are now reunited with their loved ones, says Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (The Moderate Party) at a press conference on Saturday evening.
To facilitate the exchange, the Swedish government decided on Saturday to pardon the life-sentenced Iranian, Hamid Noury.
I understand that this raises mixed feelings, not least among Swedes with an Iranian background. Hamid Noury has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and grave breaches of human rights, says Ulf Kristersson.
This was not an easy decision for the government to make.
Failed to bring home Djalali
The government claims that it tried to bring home a third Swedish citizen, Ahmadreza Djalali, who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2016. According to Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (The Moderate Party), the government and the security service made "great efforts" to secure his release in the exchange – but to no avail.
Djalali obtained Swedish citizenship during his imprisonment, and Iran allegedly does not recognise him as anything other than an Iranian citizen.
Iran views Djalali differently than Floderus and Azizi, says Tobias Billström.
According to Ulf Kristersson, Iran has completely refused to discuss Djalali with Sweden.
We negotiated the best deal possible for Sweden. If we had insisted on Djalali's release and refused to negotiate, our firm opinion is that we would not have achieved anything at all, says he.
Kristersson states that Oman contributed to the release of the two Swedes.
EU official Johan Floderus was arrested during a tourist trip in 2022. Saeed Azizi was arrested in November last year and later sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
Exchanged for life-sentenced prisoner
Hamid Noury was sentenced for his involvement in mass executions at an Iranian prison in the late 1980s. The news of his release was announced on Saturday.
"Hamid Noury, who has been illegally detained in Sweden since 2019, is free and will return to the country in a few hours," wrote Kazem Gharibabadi, who heads Iran's highest court for human rights, earlier on X.
In the afternoon, the state-run Iranian news agency Irna reported that Noury had landed in the capital Tehran, where he was met by relatives at the airport.
Hamid Noury was sentenced to life imprisonment by the district court for his involvement in the executions of thousands of political prisoners at an Iranian prison in 1988. The Svea Court of Appeal upheld the verdict in December last year.
Noury was lured to Sweden in 2019 and arrested at Arlanda. According to the indictment, he had selected prisoners to be put before a committee that decided who would be executed, read out the names of those to be executed, and escorted them to the execution chamber. He is also said to have personally participated in the executions on one or more occasions.
The case is one of the largest of its kind in Sweden. Approximately 70 plaintiffs from different parts of the world were heard.
