790 days Johan Floderus was imprisoned in Iran before he was allowed to return home to Sweden again in mid-June.
All ask if it does not feel unreal. But it feels very real, he says in an interview with TV4's Kalla Fakta.
Since Johan Floderus came home just over two weeks ago, he has devoted himself to what he describes as "the real small things" in life – paddling kayak, eating good food and sleeping in a bed.
I can walk more than three or four steps without my nose hitting a concrete wall. I get to feel the sun on my skin and feel the wind in my hair. Now I am free and get to be with my family and my wonderful fiancé, he says.
Floderus was arrested on his way home from a trip to Iran in April 2022 at Tehran Airport and was taken to the notorious Evin Prison. When he was to meet a judge a few days later, he was initially relieved, but after being declared suspected of espionage against the Islamic Republic, the feeling quickly changed.
It must have shown on me because the judge said "don't worry, you'll just be our guest here for two to three days".
For eight months, Floderus was isolated from the world in different solitary confinement cells with the lights on around the clock. On several occasions, he chose to go on hunger strike to be allowed to call home.
It was not until the evening before the exchange that he found out that he and Saeed Azizi would be allowed to return home in exchange for Hamid Noury.
Some time around midnight, a guard came to the cell and said I should shave off my beard. I'm an optimist and could only think that now something good is happening, says Johan Floderus.
