Sweden Advises Citizens Against Travel To Iran

The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised citizens against non-essential travel to the Islamic Republic because of the security risks to foreigners.

The statement by Stockholm was issued on Thursday after the Swedish prosecutors requested a life sentence for former Iranian prison guard, Hamid Noury (Nouri), on trial in Sweden for his role in the killings of thousands of prisoners in 1988.

Sweden is probably worried that Iran may detain Swedish citizens to have more bargaining chips for the release of Nouri, who was arrested in November 2019 while visiting Sweden and charged with war crimes for his role in the execution of up to 5,000 political prisoners. Sweden used the principal of universal jurisdiction to arrest and prosecute Noury, because the alleged crimes amounted to war crimes.

According to the ministry, this means travel advisory with the purpose of visiting or tourism will be valid until further notice and covers the whole country.

The statement said law enforcement’s activities and interpretation of the law may violate international norms in the Islamic Republic and foreign travelers can be arbitrarily detained and prosecuted without clear reasons.

A Swedish-Iran scientist Ahmad-Reza Djalai faces the death sentence in Iran after he was arrested on trumped-up charges of spying.

Sweden on March 10 deported back to Iran two alleged Iranian agentswho were arrested for links to a terrorist plot, instead of putting them on trial, since it does not want more tensions in its relations with Tehran.