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The family of a Swedish citizen working for the European Union, who has been arrested in Iran, has called on the international community to contribute to his release.
Johan Floderus has been in Iranian cells for more than 500 days on suspicion of espionage, his family said on Sunday.
The European Union's chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Tuesday that Mr Johan Floderus' imprisonment had been raised repeatedly with the Iranian authorities.
"Johan's family, friends and supporters are calling for urgent international attention to ensure his immediate release and safe return to Europe," the family wrote on a website dedicated to his release, on Johan's 33rd birthday.
They said Mr. Floderus was being held without formal charge at Tehran's Evin prison, where political prisoners and many prisoners facing security charges, including Iranians with dual citizenship, are sent.
His family said Mr Floderus had traveled throughout the Middle East to study languages, explore historical sites and support humanitarian cooperation projects in Iran on behalf of the EU. He was arrested in April 2022 before leaving Iran.
"His needs for adequate food rations, going outside, medical checkups and others are not respected (in prison)," his family says, adding that he was denied "communication" with the Swedish embassy in Tehran. , except for some consular visits.
They said that beginning in February of this year, Mr. Floderus was limited to one short phone call a month.
For years, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreign nationals, mostly on espionage and security-related charges.
Human rights groups and Western governments have accused Iran of carrying out the arrests in order to blackmail other countries for political concessions.
Tehran says such arrests are based on the penal code and denies holding people for political reasons.
Relations between Stockholm and Tehran have been strained since 2019 when Sweden arrested a former Iranian official for involvement in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in Iran in the 1980s. He was sentenced to life in prison last year, caused Iran to withdraw its envoy to Sweden in protest./ VOA
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