Response to interpellation 2024/25:14 on Ahmadreza Djalali
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the prisoner exchange of Ahmadreza Djalali and the government's work to bring him home from Iran. M argues that Sweden did everything to have him released in June, but that Iran refused to discuss the case as they do not recognize him as a Swedish citizen 1. M emphasizes that he is a Swedish citizen and that the work for his release on humanitarian grounds continues with full force 2 1 3. C criticizes the government for having given away a convicted murderer without getting Djalali back 4. C argues that quiet diplomacy does not work and demands tougher lines against Iran 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Mr. Speaker! I have been asked if I can describe how the process went when, days after the European Parliament election and just before the Riksdag's summer recess, it was decided to carry out the prisoner exchange, why Ahmadreza Djalali was left behind, and what I plan to do concretely to bring him home.
As the Prime Minister stated, Sweden did everything possible for Ahmadreza Djalali to be released in connection with the exchange with Iran that took place in June. Iran, however, refused to discuss Ahmadreza Djalali's case; they claimed that they do not recognize him as a Swedish citizen because he was only an Iranian citizen when he was arrested. It was argued that the case therefore only constitutes an affair for Iran. We do not share this view. Ahmadreza Djalali is a Swedish citizen.
It is evident that the circumstances under which Ahmadreza Djalali is being held in detention constitute a serious threat to his health. His state of health makes it necessary that he be released for humanitarian reasons so that he can be reunited with his family in Sweden. This has been presented to various high-level representatives for Iran, both in Stockholm and in Tehran. The EU has set the same requirements.
I familiarized myself with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs' work regarding Ahmadreza Jalali's case already during my first week as Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the work for his case continues with undiminished strength.
Alireza Akhondi (C)
Mr. Speaker! I should have asked which brand of coffee is used at the UD. Then the probability that I would have received answers to my questions would have been somewhat higher.
I am, however, not at all surprised by the lack of response when one of UD's most important executives is the brother of the founder of the Islamic Republic's most important think tank, NIAC. At that point, it actually cannot get any worse than this.
Please, Maria Malmer Stenergard! Look up at the gallery. There sits Vida Djalali - Ahmadrezas wife. This is not my question. This is her question, and it is her children's question. They deserve to get an answer today.
But hope is the last thing to leave us. The Minister has still time to show political backbone, despite the fact that predecessors, regardless of affiliation, have shown enormous displays of naivety.
Mr. Speaker! Since the Minister does not want to answer my questions, I will take the opportunity to answer them myself. Sweden suffered a major scam, and the government scammed the Swedish voters by waiting until the polling stations closed and the Riksdag was about to go on summer recess before making the scam public.
We gave away a murderer convicted in two Swedish instances because we are naive. But even the naive should be paid better. There is a basic rule, Maria Malmer Stenergard, which I think one should respect. You do not leave one of your own behind enemy lines. Never, ever. Never, ever! Never, ever do you leave one of your own behind enemy lines.
For the convicted murderer, we could have gotten back all our and all European hostages who are sitting in the notorious Iranian prisons. I may be old-fashioned, but I am at least honest.
Mr. Speaker! I want to know honestly what the government intends to do to bring Ahmadreza home now that the government has no ace up its sleeve. I have spoken quite a bit with Vida Djalali, Ahmadreza's wife. I am certain that she has not received any answer either, not even in closed rooms.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Mr. Speaker! I would, of course, like to begin by extending my and the government's warm sympathy to Vida Djalali, who is here today. It is difficult to ever try to understand the situation that you are in, but I truly want to assure you that the government's work continues with undiminished strength.
We have in no way given up on Ahmadreza Djalali. We continuously raise his situation with Iranian representatives at various levels, and I did so myself as recently as last Saturday with Iran's Foreign Minister in connection with the opening of the UN General Assembly. At the meeting, I emphasized that the government views Ahmadreza Djalali's situation with great seriousness, and I conveyed demands for his release on humanitarian grounds so that he can be reunited with his family here in Sweden.
Dialogue with the family is obviously important. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is in regular contact with the family in Sweden, and Sweden's embassy in Tehran is in continuous contact with relatives residing in Iran.
Ahmadreza Djalali's situation is not only a matter of concern for Sweden. Both the EU and the UN, through the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, have long been involved in the case, and I and the government view this positively. I can assure you that we will continue to identify which measures and steps best serve the objective that Ahmadreza Djalali should be released for humanitarian reasons.
Alireza Akhondi (C)
Mr. Speaker! The Minister has no significant foreign policy experience. The "new to the job" sign on the jacket is still shining brightly. I will not claim that my CV in that area is much stronger, but I can at least, as an elected representative, take the opportunity to offer some humble advice, above all for Sweden's best interests.
This House has in full unanimity urged the government to work towards the terror listing of the now notorious revolution guard. Maria Malmer Stenergard! Listen to us elected representatives, please! Secret meetings with terrorists who now have diplomatic titles give us nothing. Those meetings are leaked by them themselves because it suits their agenda.
Mr. Speaker! I know that the government is very interested in stopping the shootings on Swedish streets and squares. Let me then reveal a poorly hidden secret to the Minister: Foxtrot is funded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
Just yesterday, Israel's embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen were attacked by torpedoes from Foxtrot. Rawa Majid - we have heard his name, haven't we? He is protected and takes orders from the IRGC. If you really want to stop the wave of violence in Sweden, you stop the IRGC's operations on European soil.
Mr. Speaker! The Middle East is on the brink of fire. The pyromaniac is called the Islamic Republic, and it must be dealt with - with a firm hand and not with a policy of concessions. We have tested that, and we see the result. Do not let the so-called water heaters that Iran sends up, which only have Palestinian victims, scare us into silence!
The rulers in the Islamic Republic are terrified. They know that they do not even have support inside their own country. People write daily on the walls of the Iranian streets: Israel, finish the job! Let Khamenei meet his buddy Nasrallah!
Listen to the will of the people, Maria Malmer Stenergard!
In conclusion, I want to touch upon the previous debate. The antisemitism in Vänsterpartiet is truly frightening. I sincerely hope for everyone's sake that we return to a tone of dialogue regarding the world's most intractable conflict.
TJÄNSTGÖRANDE ÅLDERSPRESIDENTEN
I would like to remind the members that the circumstances or actions of individual persons may not be discussed in the chamber.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Mr. Speaker! As I have said, everything was done so that Ahmadreza Djalali could leave Iran in June together with Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi. Iran, however, refused to even discuss his case.
Iran's view is that he is not recognized as a Swedish citizen because he was only an Iranian citizen when he was arrested. It is argued that the case therefore only constitutes a matter for Iran. Sweden is thus denied contact with and consular visits to Ahmadreza Djalali. We do not share this view. Ahmadreza Djalali is a Swedish citizen.
Handling of difficult consular cases involving deprived Swedes requires continuous strategic considerations to assess what could best benefit the individual case at any given moment. When we work with such particularly complicated cases as Ahmadreza Jalali's, we use the full range of tools available under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Out of consideration for Jalali's own safety and in order not to risk worsening his situation, I also cannot provide more details on how we work than what I have already given today. The question is, after all, significantly more complicated than the one about coffee.
When it comes to the IRGC, Sweden is conducting diplomatic work to advance the line anchored in the Riksdag, that is to say, working to ensure that EU consensus is reached to list the IRGC. We have, among other things, raised our support for a listing at the FAC on April 22, as well as in the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence and in the Committee of Permanent Representatives. We have also consulted other member states on the issue to continuously follow up on the political and legal conditions for moving the issue forward. A process is currently underway within the EU to review the conditions for a listing of the IRGC under the EU's sanctions regime against terrorism, and that is good.
Alireza Akhondi (C)
Mr. Speaker! I believe that the Riksdag's rules of procedure and standing orders perhaps should be reviewed if we cannot even mention the name of a person who has terrorized Swedish society in recent years.
It is pleasing that Maria Malmer Stenergard, despite what I have heard from the Minister's party comrades, actually considers Ahmadreza Djalali a Swedish citizen, because he is. And Ahmadreza Djalali deserves to be allowed to come home to his family, to his children who have been without their father for very many years.
I hope that the Minister takes lessons from similar cases, such as Dawit Isaak's. I recall that quiet diplomacy does not work. I have at least not seen any evidence whatsoever that quiet diplomacy and the tools the Minister refers to actually work in reality.
I do not doubt, and I shall say it honestly, Maria Malmer Stenergards ambitions to bring our citizens home. I do not doubt them for a second; that is what I want to say. But when you give away the strongest ace you have up your sleeve, I do not know what other tools work on terrorists, for those are the ones the Council of State has to deal with in a country that with reckless courage has set the entire Middle East on fire.
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Mr. Speaker! I believe most of what needs to be said has been said in the debate. I just want to assure once again that the work to have Ahmadreza Djalali released for humanitarian reasons continues with full force.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.