By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
TEHRAN/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Johan Floderus, the Swedish European Union diplomat held in captivity for two years in Iran, has been freed and is on his way home in a prisoners swap, the Swedish prime minister confirmed.
Ulf Kristersson said Saturday that the Iranian prisoner Hamid Noury, a former Iranian official convicted for his role in a mass execution in the 1980s, was released in exchange for Floderus and the Iranian-Swedish citizen Saeed Azizi.
Their release comes months after Floderus’s father said they expected execution or a life sentence after he was accused of spying.
Azizi’s five-year prison term on national security charges was upheld earlier this year. The EU and his family were among those saying the charges were false.
Oman mediated the prisoner swap, the country’s foreign ministry said. “Omani efforts resulted in the two sides agreeing on a mutual release, as those released were transferred from Tehran and Stockholm,” it added.
Sweden freed former Iranian official Hamid Noury, who had been convicted for his part in the mass killings of political prisoners in Iran in 1988.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency published footage of Noury arriving at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, where his family welcomed him on a red carpet.
ON PLANE
Kristersson said in a statement that Floderus and Azizi were on a plane back to Sweden.
Yet questions were raised about the release of the Iranian Noury, a convicted mass murderer. “It has been clear all along that this operation would require difficult decisions,” admitted the Swedish prime minister.
Ylva Johansson, the Swedish EU commissioner in whose team Floderus has worked, said: “Johan is finally free after more than two years wrongfully imprisoned in an Iranian jail. I am so so, so happy. I am happy for Johan, for his family and his friends.”
She added, “Every day, in these last two years, Johan has been in our minds and hearts. We spoke about him every day, and now we are just all so relieved and happy to finally be able to say: ‘Johan, welcome home.’”
In a statement, the EU said the 33-year-old, who had worked on the Afghanistan desk of the EU’s external services department, was “on his way home” from the notorious Evin prison, where many Christians and political prisoners have been held too.
His families and Christians say he and others have been detained there under “inhumane conditions.”
The EU’s executive European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was “delighted” and congratulated Sweden for its “persistent” efforts to release Floderus.
It comes despite EU-Tehran tensions over Iran’s support for Hamas and other groups designated as terrorist organizations and the Iranian nuclear program.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have delivered a trove of documents to Congress detailing donation patterns to the Clinton Foundation from foreign and domestic entities, reigniting scrutiny over whether critical evidence was withheld from federal investigators who sought to examine pay-to-play allegations a decade ago.
A war of words erupted between Turkey and Israel this week as plans advanced for an International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza under President Donald Trump’s U.S.-brokered peace plan — a force intended to oversee the fragile ceasefire, disarm Hamas, and restore stability to the war-torn enclave.
President Donald Trump on Monday issued a stark warning to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying the justices have been given “the wrong numbers” in a pending case that challenges his authority to impose tariffs under emergency powers — a decision he warned could trigger a $3 trillion economic collapse and endanger America’s national security.
After a grueling overnight session stretching into the early hours of Tuesday morning, the House Rules Committee voted 8–4 along party lines to advance a bill aimed at ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — now entering its 42nd day. The measure, supported by all Republicans on the panel, moves next to the full House for a vote Wednesday, where GOP leaders are confident it will pass.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that France will assist the Palestinian Authority (PA) in drafting a constitution for a future Palestinian state, following a meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas at the Élysée Palace. The move comes as part of France’s broader push to promote a two-state solution after recognizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September.
Venezuela has launched a massive two-day military mobilization involving nearly 200,000 troops as the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, arrived in Latin American waters Tuesday, significantly escalating regional military tensions.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “deeply saddened” after a Turkish military cargo plane carrying 20 personnel crashed Tuesday in Georgia, near the border with Azerbaijan, and officials feared there were no survivors.