Family of Swedish EU diplomat held in Iran for over a year calls for his release

The family of a Swedish EU diplomat held captive in Iran for more than 500 days calls for his immediate release, as he marks his birthday in a Tehran prison.

“Today on Johan’s 33rd birthday, he should be with us celebrating… He should be released immediately and allowed to travel home,” the family of Johan Floderus writes in a statement, releasing a picture of him taken during the only video call with his family he has been granted.

Floderus was arrested on April 17, 2022, at Tehran’s airport as he was returning home from a trip with friends. The Swede, who had been working in Brussels for the EU delegation to Afghanistan as a program officer since September 2021, is being held at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

Floderus “has become yet another victim of Iran’s alarming pattern of taking foreign nationals hostage for political purposes,” his family says. “His needs for adequate food rations, outside walks, medical checkups and much more are not respected,” they say, adding that he has spent “over 300 days in solitary confinement.”