Response to interpellation 2025/26:310 on Swedish democracy assistance to Iran

Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)

Madam Speaker! Before I proceed to the formal part of my answer, I would really like to thank you for this very important interpellation. There are many of us here in Sweden – and there are two of us in this chamber – who truly care about ordinary, peaceful activists and protesters in Iran who are now being subjected to very harsh repression. So, a big thank you for the interpellation!

Azadeh Rojhan has asked me if I have made any analysis of how Swedish democracy assistance can be used to strengthen internet freedom, access to independent information, and protection against digital repression, and what that analysis, if any, has shown, as well as whether the government intends to, within the Swedish democracy assistance, through Sida and multilateral cooperation, prioritize and finance long-term assistance to initiatives that strengthen internet freedom in Iran.

Sweden condemns the Iranian regime's attacks on its own population, and we support the Iranian people in their rightful demands for respect for human rights and democracy. The Government has clearly underlined that the Iranian government has an obligation to respect freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has summoned the Iranian ambassador to strongly mark this. We have also urged Iran to immediately restore access to the internet.

The government has long supported the Iranian people in their demands for respect for human rights, including the right to express their opinions. Individually and together with like-minded parties, for example within the EU, we continuously review how we can best support the Iranian population.

In light of the needs we have now seen, the government decided on 5 February to allocate 10 million kronor to support human rights defenders, democracy advocates, and actors working for increased freedom of expression in Iran. The support is channeled through Sida, and the government has an ongoing dialogue with Sida regarding these efforts.

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Azadeh Rojhan (S)

Madam Speaker and the Minister for Foreign Affairs! Between December 28 and January 9, extensive protests broke out across Iran. What began as popular expressions of frustration and anger over 45 years of oppression, economic misery, and a lack of basic freedoms was met by a regime that responded with indiscriminate violence. Nearly 30,000 people are reported to have been killed and thousands arrested. Reports of expedited executions arrive every day, and the situation for political prisoners has worsened – if it was even possible.

On January 8, the regime carried out a total shutdown of the internet. It continued for two weeks, and even today, the internet is partially shut down. All of this was aimed at preventing the people in Iran from organizing, communicating with one another, and documenting the brutal abuses that awaited. The digital shutdown simply became a tool to hide the violence and isolate the population from the outside world.

It is against the background of how the internet shutdown came to be used as a tool to stifle opposition and conceal abuses that I wrote this interpellation to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I would really like to take this opportunity to thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the initiative that the government has decided on and is now implementing. The targeted support of 10 million to, among others, human rights defenders and democracy advocates in Iran is important and sends a clear signal of solidarity with the Iranian people. Such clear signals are important in these times.

Madam Speaker! The democratic movement in Iran is in practice almost entirely dependent on the internet. However, for a long time, the regime has attempted to build a so-called national information network, a state-controlled intranet aimed at isolating the population from the global internet and strengthening surveillance.

But we know that today there are functioning solutions, secure VPN services, that bypass censorship and surveillance and break the digital isolation. These are communication tools and solutions that lie beyond the regime's control and can bypass what the regime wants to achieve. That is also why I want to ask my question about how the government can ensure that the investment of 10 million is targeted at precisely these evidence-based and proven effective technical solutions, so that we know that internet freedom is actually helped by this support.

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Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)

Madam Speaker! I will not say this often, but just here I completely agree with the interpellor. I am very pleased that in many of the parties in the Riksdag there is a great commitment to the Iranian people.

We usually say that no one can do everything but everyone can do something. Here, Sweden has truly taken the lead. We have been one of the most proactive countries within the framework of EU cooperation when it has come to new sanctions, for example.

We have been reviewing the entire trade policy over the past weeks and asked ourselves if there is more we can do there. But the largest part of what it could theoretically be about is already today subject to sanctions from the EU against Iran, with great force. We are continuously reviewing if there is anything else we can do. We gladly accept input and ideas there, because we fundamentally want the same thing. We want to see an Iran with freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, a democratic Iran.

In addition to the decision on the special support through Sida, the government has taken a number of other measures to counter the Iranian authorities' digital repression and work to ensure that access to the internet is restored. The EU's 27 member states have made a joint statement in which we, among other things, expressed our solidarity with the Iranian people and urged the authorities to restore access to the internet for everyone.

At the meeting of the Foreign Ministers on 29 January, in addition to a number of other sanction measures, new listings were also adopted under the EU's special sanctions regime due to the situation regarding human rights in Iran, which the government has long campaigned for. The listings include several state and private actors who have been involved in online censorship and surveillance or assisted in disrupting access to the internet.

We are truly doing what we can, both economically and in other ways. Without going into detail regarding which actors and persons get to receive the money, I want to say that I am one of those who has most strongly pushed for us to have transparent aid. Under these very special circumstances, it is impossible for us to account for all aid recipients without ultimately risking their lives. Therefore, we have slightly less transparency in just this specific aid.

We do what we can to support the actors who contribute to more freedom of expression in Iran in a peaceful way, as well as by meeting force with force when it comes to the Iranian regime, for example with new sanctions.

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Azadeh Rojhan (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Foreign Affairs, for the answer! I have all the respect for the fact that it is difficult to go into details here.

This is not the first time that protests in Iran have been met with brutal violence or digital isolation. We remember the protests after Jina Mahsa Amini's death. We also remember the Iranian Green Movement in 2009. After what happened in Iran then and after the Arab Spring the year after, Sweden chose to act more structurally. The then Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Development Minister Gunilla Carlsson allocated significant funds through the aid agency, around 150 million kronor annually, for specific support for democracy, freedom of expression, and internet freedom. The starting point for the government at that time was very clear: Freedom on the internet must be defended.

The special initiative was later made permanent and integrated into the global strategy for support for democracy, human rights, and the principles of the rule of law. That is very good, because it provided stability and long-term perspective. It is therefore very positive. But experience also shows that when targeted initiatives are incorporated into broader strategies, there is a risk that the focus becomes less sharp. When many important areas are to be accommodated within the same framework, particularly sensitive and technically demanding interventions, for example support for internet freedom, can lose the prioritization required in the current situation during ongoing repression.

That is why I believe it is important to ensure that there are also, moving forward, clearly prioritized and earmarked funds within aid for this type of intervention. Internet freedom and protection against digital repression are not a side issue within democracy support, but one of its most central dimensions.

It is also for this reason that I wonder how the government intends to ensure that the support for internet freedom and digital security in Iran does not become just something temporary – a reaction here and now to an acute crisis – but a long-term priority and that a clear and defined part of the Swedish democracy assistance is actually directed towards this.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)

Madam Speaker! We can discuss the complexity of Swedish aid extensively. One of the problems we have is that we have both geographical and thematic strategies. Consequently, it is very difficult for the government to direct directly, and also for the Swedish people and the members of the Riksdag to follow exactly where different interventions are being financed. But I can be clear that this is a priority issue for the entire government.

This is not specifically just about Iran, but we know that the internet and various digital instruments for human rights activists and democracy fighters all over the world are often the tools at hand when one wants to highlight, for example, corruption or repression in a country. It is important to get stories from those geographies. It often concerns countries that it is very difficult to report from in a free and open way as a journalist.

This is, therefore, an extremely prioritized issue, not only when it concerns Iran but also in other contexts similar to the one we see in Iran. We will continue to follow this. Naturally, there must be funds for this type of intervention. It could involve concrete technical instruments. It could involve support for organizations that work for this. It could involve improving the security work linked to people and organizations that work for this.

This is an incredibly important issue, both regarding Iran and regarding other countries and contexts similar to those we see in Iran. The government is pushing this on all levels. We are pushing it bilaterally towards Iran – we called, as mentioned, the ambassador. We are doing it within the EU, and something that is now positive is that more EU countries are joining the Swedish very strict position towards Iran. We are also pushing it in the UN, where there are a number of different initiatives. We are doing it in every way we possibly can.

Now it is important that we in the Riksdag and the government, and also the entire international community, do not let this issue drop. We unfortunately see that the media interest is already less now than just a few weeks ago.

We must continue to keep up the pressure when it comes to supporting organizations and individuals who make important contributions and also when it comes to putting pressure on the Iranian regime. We promise that we will do everything we can.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Azadeh Rojhan (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, for the promise! I actually hope that we will not have reason to meet here to discuss these issues in the future, because that would mean that the repression and oppression of the Iranian people continues. I also hope that we can soon witness that the Iranian people receive democracy, human rights and freedom, that the people's will is obeyed and that the international community can be involved and contribute to that.

I really want to thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the initiative that the government is now making and for what has been decided. I also hope that with this support we can actually reach those who can make a difference and who can use digital tools to be a voice for the Iranian people, so that the rest of the world is also aware of what is happening in the country.

We have a responsibility. I am grateful that a considerable number of measures have been taken by the government in addition to those that have been presented here. We will continue to follow the work that the government is doing here, and if there is a reason, we will surely meet here again to discuss and see how we can find opportunities and how, across party lines, we can stand up for the Iranian people's will for freedom and democracy.

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Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)

Madam Speaker! I gladly take the extended hand and will very gladly cooperate regarding these issues, because there is, as has been said, much to be done here.

There is still something optimistic in all of this: that it is hundreds of thousands of people who, at risk to their own lives, have peacefully demonstrated for an Iran with more freedom and more democracy. I think that the mobilization one has seen throughout Europe among exiled Iranians also shows the primal force that exists in the Iranian and Persian diaspora in our own country but also in other parts of the world. There is much we can do together with the diaspora but also to help the forces that are very constructive on the ground in Iran.

We are happy to cooperate across the block divide, and when it comes to the European Parliament, we hope that we can get the large countries on board to do more linked to this. As said: No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. We are happy to cooperate on this.

Hopefully we will not have reason to return to these questions and can discuss other problems in the world and in Sweden, but unfortunately, quite little points in that direction right now.

Many thanks for this debate!

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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