Two Swedes could return home to Sweden over the weekend after being detained in Iran. At least one remains – Ahmadreza Djalali, who has been imprisoned since 2016.
According to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, attempts were made to include him as well.
We did everything we could and we absolutely did not abandon him, says Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to TV4.
According to Kristersson, however, there were no conditions whatsoever to secure Djalali's release.
He was taken by Iran several years before Sweden convicted Noury, whom Iran wanted released. He became a Swedish citizen afterwards, and Iran does not recognise him as a Swedish citizen and has not even been willing to discuss his name, so we got nowhere at all.
The fact that Djalali was not among those released has been criticised by, among others, Djalali's wife, Vida Mehrannia.
We did everything we could and I have great respect for her despair, says Kristersson.
But the alternative would have been to leave the two Swedes we got back in Iran as well, and that would not have been an alternative.
