Sweden on Friday demanded that Iran release academic Ahmadreza Jalali, who is on death row in Iran, after his wife said he had a heart attack in prison and his life is ‘at immediate risk’.
Jalali, an Iranian who was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges and was granted Swedish nationality while in jail, suffered a heart attack in Tehran’s Evin prison.
‘He has been transferred to the hospital section in Evin prison. He was informed that he will not be able to see a cardiologist until Sunday,’ the wife added.
‘After nine years of suffering, his health is declining rapidly. His life is at immediate risk and he must urgently receive proper care,’ she said.
She urged Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson and Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard ‘to do everything in their power to secure his immediate release’.
Stenergard said on X that she had ‘spoken urgently tonight with the Iranian foreign minister.’
‘During the conversation, I demanded that Ahmadreza Jalali immediately receive the specialised care he needs.’
‘My work, and that of the government, for Ahmadreza Jalali continues with unabated strength. Ahmadreza Jalali must now be immediately released on humanitarian grounds so that he can be reunited with his family, something I also expressed in today’s conversation,’ she said.
Sweden has previously said that Iran does not recognise Jalali as a Swedish national since he was only an Iranian citizen when he was arrested.
In June 2024, Tehran freed two Swedes held in Iran in exchange for Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prisons official serving a life sentence in Sweden. Jalali was left out of the swap.
‘It seems to not be a priority for the Swedish officials what may happen to me as a Swedish citizen while I risk dying either by execution or due to poor health,’ Jalali said in January, in a voice message obtained by AFP through his wife.
‘It seems that due to my dual nationality I am considered as a second-class citizen,’ he said.
Western countries have long accused Iran of detaining foreign nationals on trumped-up charges to use them as bargaining chips to extract concessions.
