On December 10, 2023, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court initiated proceedings in the trial of Johan Floderus, a Swedish citizen facing charges of “spreading corruption on earth” and “espionage,” as reported by Mizan, Iran’s judiciary news agency.
Presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, the court session saw Floderus, accompanied by his legal representative, contesting the array of charges leveled against him, which include “spreading corruption on earth” and “undermining national security by collaborating with Israel to gather intelligence.” Throughout the proceedings, the prosecutor asserted that Floderus had allegedly “established a network in Iran in conjunction with the Swedish Intelligence service, engaged in activism aimed at overthrowing the regime, disguised fund transfers to Iran as part of a project, traveled to Israel, and collaborated with Israeli Intelligence within the European Union.”
Floderus was formally indicted in November of the current year.
In April 2022, Floderus visited Iran. As he was departing Iran on April 16, 2022, he was detained by the Ministry of Intelligence at the airport on charges of espionage.
In July, the Ministry of Intelligence issued a statement asserting that Floderus had made multiple trips to Iran. During his last visit, he was allegedly on a mission to uncover the identity of another spy who had been apprehended in Iran. Intelligence agents monitored his communications and, after accumulating evidence, arrested him under a warrant issued by the judiciary.
It is worth noting that on May 6, 2022, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed his detention in Iran. The Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet described his arrest as a retaliatory move by Iran’s regime in response to the trial of Hamid Nouri, a prominent figure involved in the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners. Nouri had been arrested in November 2019 in Sweden and subsequently convicted of crimes against humanity.
