You are here

A Swedish diplomat says his release from a 2-year detention in Iran is like a dream

A Swedish diplomat says his release from a 2-year detention in Iran is like a dream
In this photo provided by the Swedish government, Johan Floderus reunites with his family at Arlanda airport in Stockholm on Jun. 15, 2024, after being released from prison in Iran. (AP)
Short Url

https://arab.news/phnc3

Updated 18 June 2024
AP
Follow

A Swedish diplomat says his release from a 2-year detention in Iran is like a dream

A Swedish diplomat says his release from a 2-year detention in Iran is like a dream
  • “The dream that I sometimes did not dare to believe in has come true — to be back with my loved ones and to live my life in freedom,” said Floderus
  • Sweden’s Expressen tabloid posted a video of Floderus on his knee at the airport on Saturday and appearing to be proposing to his fiancé
Updated 18 June 2024
AP
Follow

COPENHAGEN: The Swedish European Union diplomat who was held in Iran for two years and freed in a prisoner swap over the weekend said Tuesday that his release was “the dream that I sometimes did not dare to believe in.”
Johan Floderus and a second Swedish citizen, Saeed Azizi, returned to Sweden on Saturday in exchange for Hamid Nouri, an Iranian convicted in Stockholm of committing war crimes over his part in 1988 mass executions in the Islamic Republic.
Floderus was arrested in April 2022 at the Tehran airport while returning from a vacation with friends. He had been held for months before his family and others went public with his detention.
“After two long years, I am finally a free man, reunited with my family, my fiance, and will be able to marry,” he said in a statement to Swedish media. “The dream that I sometimes did not dare to believe in has come true — to be back with my loved ones and to live my life in freedom.”
Sweden’s Expressen tabloid posted a video of Floderus on his knee at the airport on Saturday and appearing to be proposing to his fiance. In the background stood Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who had welcomed Floderus and Azizi at the airport and said they had faced a “hell on earth.”
The swap was mediated by Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that has long served as an interlocutor between Iran and the West. It came as the Muslim world celebrates Eid Al-Adha, which marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage and typically sees prisoners freed.
The arrest of Nouri by Sweden in 2019 as he traveled there as a tourist likely sparked the detentions of the two Swedes, part of a long-running strategy by Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution to use those with ties abroad as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. Iran long has contended it doesn’t hold prisoners to use in negotiations, despite years of multiple swaps with the US and other nations showing otherwise.
In 2022, the Stockholm District Court sentenced Nouri to life in prison. It identified him as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison outside the Iranian city of Karaj.
Saturday’s swap did not include Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian expert on disaster medicine whom a UN panel long has described as being arbitrarily detained by Tehran since 2016. He is currently being held in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
In an appeal to Kristersson, Swedish broadcaster SVT on Tuesday carried an audio message from Djalali, who faces possible execution after being convicted on charges of “corruption on Earth” in 2017.
“Mister prime minister, you decided to leave me behind under huge risk of being executed,” Djalali said in the message. “You left me here helpless. Why not me? After 3,000 days.”

Topics: Iran Sweden Johan Floderus

Related

Iran and Sweden carry out a prisoner swap, freeing man convicted of war crimes over 1988 executions
World
Iran and Sweden carry out a prisoner swap, freeing man convicted of war crimes over 1988 executions
Sweden summons Iraqi diplomat to protest death penalties reportedly handed to 2 Swedes
Middle-East
Sweden summons Iraqi diplomat to protest death penalties reportedly handed to 2 Swedes

India’s Naga tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections

India’s Naga tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections
Updated 5 sec ago
Follow

India’s Naga tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections

India’s Naga tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections
  • British auction house put 19th-century Naga tribesman’s skull up for sale in October
  • Colonial authorities started to collect Naga skulls as specimens in the mid-19th century
Updated 5 sec ago
Sanjay Kumar

NEW DELHI: Ellen Konyak Jamir was left in a state of disbelief when she discovered that the skull of a tribesman from the state of Nagaland was being auctioned in the UK. What made the discovery even more unsettling was that it was being publicly advertised.
Part of a “Curious Collector Sale” at an auction house in Oxfordshire, the 19th-century horned skull was one of thousands of items — including human remains — that British colonial administrators had collected from the northeastern Indian state and placed in museums and private collections.
It was featured on the sale’s website in October as a piece that “would be of particular interest to collectors with a focus on anthropology and tribal cultures,” and was offered with an opening bid of $4,400.
“When the news of the auction by the Swan in Tetsworth, Oxfordshire was brought to our attention, we were absolutely shocked and dismayed,” Konyak, a Nagaland native and member of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, an association of members of various Naga tribes, told Arab News.
“(It was) an act of disrespect, dehumanization and the continuation of colonial violence ... We appreciated the prompt response and the removal of the item.”
The listing was quickly removed, but the incident has resulted in renewed efforts by the Naga community to repatriate the remains of their ancestors held in Britain.
“It created shockwaves of anger, humiliation and disbelief that in this century some people will be advertising to sell human skulls. That’s very serious,” said Visier Sanyu, a professor of history and an elder of the Angami tribe in Nagaland, who leads the Forum for Naga Reconciliation.
“We were approached to bring back these human remains, the skull, the hair, and hands and all from the Pitts River Museum, where they were exhibited for about 100 years ... It is a very long process. It can take 10 to 15 years.”
The University of Oxford’s Pitts River Museum has the largest Naga collection, featuring more than 6,500 items taken from the state. The items include dozens of human remains.
There are 16 Naga tribes inhabiting northeastern India and until the early 20th century most of them would collect the heads of their rivals after winning battles.
British colonial authorities started to take those skulls as specimens in the mid-19th century, but most were collected when anthropologist John Henry Hutton was an administrator in the region.
“He was the one who collected many of them,” Sanyu said.
“Hutton was here somewhere in the beginning of the century and then he went away during World War One and then he came back and stayed on for a long time, probably up till the 1930s or 40s.”
Dr. Dolly Kikon, a member of the Naga community and anthropology professor at the University of California, who co-founded the Recover, Restore, and Decolonize group under the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, is involved in the efforts to return human skulls from the UK.
She said the organization will request the respective tribes to decide what will happen to the remains of their ancestors once they are brought back to India.
“In cases where the remains are clearly identified as belonging to a respective Naga cultural group, it will depend on the elders and community members to determine the process. There are suggestions for burials, common memorial ceremonies, a memorial park signifying Naga unity and history, and also keeping the skulls as part of community history,” she said.
“Our role is to facilitate dialogues and take up awareness programs ... There is a need to connect repatriation to larger issues of colonial violence and the quest for dignity and justice.”
While it is not clear yet who will cover the expenses, some Naga activists, such as retired school principal Nyamto Wangsha, believe the UK should bear them.
“After identifying, we have to bury them and lay a memory stone in their name ... I feel the UK government should bear the expenses,” he said.
“It is the responsibility of the Britishers to bring back the skulls because they have taken them.”

Topics: NAGALAND

Indian tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections

Indian tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections
Updated 32 sec ago
Follow

Indian tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections

Indian tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections
  • British auction house put 19th-century Naga tribesman’s skull up for sale in October
  • Colonial authorities started to collect Naga skulls as specimens in the mid-19th century
Updated 32 sec ago
Sanjay Kumar

NEW DELHI: Ellen Konyak Jamir was left in a state disbelief when she discovered that the skull of a tribesman from the state of Nagaland was being auctioned in the UK. What made the discovery even more unsettling was that it was being publicly advertised.

Part of a “Curious Collector Sale” at an auction house in Oxfordshire, the 19th-century horned skull was one of thousands of items — including human remains — that British colonial administrators had collected from the northeastern Indian state and placed in museums and private collections.

It was featured on the sale’s website in October as a piece that “would be of particular interest to collectors with a focus on anthropology and tribal cultures,” and was offered with an opening bid of $4,400.

“When the news of the auction by the Swan in Tetsworth, Oxfordshire was brought to our attention, we were absolutely shocked and dismayed,” Konyak, a Nagaland native and member of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, an association of members of various Naga tribes, told Arab News.

“(It was) an act of disrespect, dehumanization and the continuation of colonial violence ... We appreciated the prompt response and the removal of the item.”

The listing was quickly removed, but the incident has resulted in renewed efforts by the Naga community to repatriate the remains of their ancestors held in Britain.

“It created shockwaves of anger, humiliation and disbelief that in this century some people will be advertising to sell human skulls. That’s very serious,” said Visier Sanyu, a professor of history and an elder of the Angami tribe in Nagaland, who leads the Forum for Naga Reconciliation.

“We were approached to bring back these human remains, the skull, the hair, and hands and all from the Pitts River Museum, where they were exhibited for about 100 years ... It is a very long process. It can take 10 to 15 years.”

The University of Oxford’s Pitts River Museum has the largest Naga collection, featuring more than 6,500 items taken from the state. The items include dozens of human remains.

There are 16 Naga tribes inhabiting northeastern India and until the early 20th century most of them would collect the heads of their rivals after winning battles.

British colonial authorities started to take those skulls as specimens in the mid-19th century, but most were collected when anthropologist John Henry Hutton was an administrator in the region.

“He was the one who collected many of them,” Sanyu said.

“Hutton was here somewhere in the beginning of the century and then he went away during World War One and then he came back and stayed on for a long time, probably up till the 1930s or 40s.”

Dr. Dolly Kikon, a member of the Naga community and anthropology professor at the University of California, who co-founded the Recover, Restore, and Decolonize group under the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, is involved in the efforts to return human skulls from the UK.

She said the organization will request the respective tribes to decide what will happen to the remains of their ancestors once they are brought back to India.

“In cases where the remains are clearly identified as belonging to a respective Naga cultural group, it will depend on the elders and community members to determine the process. There are suggestions for burials, common memorial ceremonies, a memorial park signifying Naga unity and history, and also keeping the skulls as part of community history,” she said.

“Our role is to facilitate dialogues and take up awareness programs ... There is a need to connect repatriation to larger issues of colonial violence and the quest for dignity and justice.”

While it is not clear yet who will cover the expenses, some Naga activists, such as retired school principal Nyamto Wangsha, believe the UK should bear them.

“After identifying, we have to bury them and lay a memory stone in their name ... I feel the UK government should bear the expenses,” he said.

“It is the responsibility of the Britishers to bring back the skulls because they have taken them.”

Topics: India United Kingdom (UK) NAGALAND Pitts River Museum

Related

Finding Nagaland: Tribes on India-Myanmar frontier dream of unity photos
Offbeat
Finding Nagaland: Tribes on India-Myanmar frontier dream of unity
India’s Naga separatists threaten to resume violence after decades-long truce
World
India’s Naga separatists threaten to resume violence after decades-long truce

Georgia PM vows retribution for protests as court rejects bid to annul vote

Georgia PM vows retribution for protests as court rejects bid to annul vote
Updated 5 min 47 sec ago
AFP
Follow

Georgia PM vows retribution for protests as court rejects bid to annul vote

Georgia PM vows retribution for protests as court rejects bid to annul vote
  • Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze also suggested he would take retribution on public servants if they take part in protests
  • Georgia has been gripped by political turmoil since a contested October election
Updated 5 min 47 sec ago
AFP

TBILISI: Georgia’s prime minister on Tuesday threatened to punish his political opponents, accusing them of being behind violence at mass protests, as Tbilisi’s top court rejected a key lawsuit to annul the result of a contested October vote.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze — who infuriated protesters last week by announcing his government would shelve EU accession talks until 2028 — also suggested he would take retribution on public servants if they take part in protests.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on Monday against the ruling Georgian Dream party in a fifth straight night of protests, with more demonstrations planned on Tuesday.
They accuse the government of bringing Tbilisi back into Moscow’s orbit and betraying the Black Sea nation’s bid for EU membership, which is enshrined in its constitution and supported by around 80 percent of the population.
Georgia has been gripped by political turmoil since a contested October election, which pro-EU President Salome Zurabishvili and the opposition say Georgian Dream rigged, demanding a re-run.
But, intensifying the crisis, Tbilisi’s top court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit filed by Zurabishvili and opposition parties to overturn the election result.
A re-run of the contested vote was one of the protesters’ main demands.
Zurabishvili, who backs the protests and whom Georgian Dream are trying to remove from office, did not yet respond to the court’s decision to throw out her case.
That announcement came shortly after Kobakhidze — who has ruled out talks with the opposition — vowed to punish his opponents.
“Opposition politicians who have orchestrated the violence in recent days while hiding in their offices will not escape responsibility,” he said at a press conference.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has refused to back down despite increasing international criticism of Georgia’s handling of its protests, with several Western countries saying Tbilisi had used excessive force.
Kobakhidze, 46, also threatened to punish civil servants who join the protests, after several ambassadors and a deputy foreign minister resigned over the demonstrations crack-down and his decision to suspend EU talks.
“The process of self-cleansing within the public sector has been very interesting. We are closely monitoring everyone’s actions, and they will not go without a response,” he said.
Evoking language used by the Kremlin, Kobakhidze alledged the protest movement was “funded from abroad.”
He also singled out NGOs — heavily targeted in a repressive pre-election campaign by authorities — for being behind the protests, vowing that they will “not evade responsibility as defined by law.”
Tbilisi earlier this year adopted Russian-style legislation designed to restrict the activity of NGOs as well measures that the EU says curb LGBTQ rights.
The adoption of the laws prompted the US to slap sanctions on Georgian officials.
But Kobakhidze said his government hoped that the “US attitudes toward us will change after January 20” — when Donald Trump, who has criticized federal support for gender transition, takes office.
Kobakhidze’s threats to the opposition came as more Western leaders criticized Tbilisi’s police response to the protests.
NATO chief Mark Rutte on Tuesday slammed as “deeply concerning” the situation in Georgia, condemning “unequivocally” the reports of violence.
The mostly young protesters accuse Georgian Dream of acting on Russian orders and fear the ex-Soviet country will end up back under Russian influence.
“We want freedom and we do not want to find ourselves in Russia,” 21-year-old protester Nika Maghradze, told AFP.
Georgia’s health ministry earlier said that 26 people — 23 protesters and three law enforcement officers — were injured in the latest protest on Monday night.
President Zurabishvili has described the protests as Georgians “rising against the Russian puppetry regime.”
“The message is clear: Give me my vote back! Give me my European future back!,” she had said on social media on Monday.
Some protesters placed their hopes in the 72-year-old president.
“She is our only chance,” 43-year-old demonstrator Mariam told AFP on Monday.

Topics: Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze Tbilisi Protests EU

Related

Update Over 40 people hospitalized in Georgia during protests over the suspension of EU talks video
World
Over 40 people hospitalized in Georgia during protests over the suspension of EU talks
Update Georgian president declares parliament illegitimate amid pro-EU protests
World
Georgian president declares parliament illegitimate amid pro-EU protests

Fighting resumes in eastern Congo despite ceasefire between army and rebels

Fighting resumes in eastern Congo despite ceasefire between army and rebels
Updated 03 December 2024
AP
Follow

Fighting resumes in eastern Congo despite ceasefire between army and rebels

Fighting resumes in eastern Congo despite ceasefire between army and rebels
  • M23 is one of a 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda
  • The conflict has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced
Updated 03 December 2024
AP

GOMA, Congo: Fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group resumed in eastern Congo in yet another ceasefire violation ahead of potential mediation talks, both groups said.
The army said in a statement it inflicted heavy losses on the rebels in the Lubero territory of North Kivu province Monday, including several dead and wounded. An M23 spokesperson said on X the group also was attacked by the army early Tuesday.
M23 is one of a 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.
Congo and the United Nations accuse Rwanda of backing M23. Rwanda denies the claim, but in February admitted that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to safeguard its security, pointing to a buildup of Congolese forces near the border. UN experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.
Last week, Congo and Rwanda’s foreign ministers agreed on the terms and conditions of the disengagement of Rwandan forces in eastern Congo.
In July, Congo signed a ceasefire with M23, which came into effect in August, but fighting has resumed since. Earlier this month, the United States said it was “gravely concerned” by ceasefire violations by M23 rebels.
The resumption of fighting comes as Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame are set to meet on Dec. 15, according to the state news agency of Angola, which has been mediating the conflict. It would be their first official meeting since last year.

Topics: Congo

Related

Congo court sentences 3 Americans and 34 others to death on coup charges
World
Congo court sentences 3 Americans and 34 others to death on coup charges
Attempted jailbreak at a Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots
World
Attempted jailbreak at a Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots

Philippine VP Sara Duterte faces calls for impeachment after threats to president

Philippine VP Sara Duterte faces calls for impeachment after threats to president
Updated 7 min 55 sec ago
Ellie Aben
Follow

Philippine VP Sara Duterte faces calls for impeachment after threats to president

Philippine VP Sara Duterte faces calls for impeachment after threats to president
  • Duterte said last month that she has contracted an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife and House speaker
  • Another coalition of civil society groups will file a new impeachment complaint against VP this week
Updated 7 min 55 sec ago
Ellie Aben

MANILA: Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte is facing an impeachment bid filed by civil society activists in the House of Representatives over a death threat she made against the president, as well as over her alleged role in extra-judicial killings of drug suspects.

A coalition of 16 signatories comprising civil society activists, religious leaders and former lawmakers filed an impeachment complaint against Duterte on Monday, accusing her of violating the country’s constitution and mismanagement of funds, and cited the recent death threat she made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“The public/open discussion about the act of engaging an assassin to kill the incumbent President, his wife and the Speaker of the House of Representatives constitutes not only betrayal of public trust but also a High Crime which would warrant her immediate impeachment from Office,” read a copy of the complaint seen by Arab News.

“The conduct of Respondent as a public officer has clearly fallen short … thus necessitating the initiation of this process of impeachment.”

The complaint, which received its required endorsement from Rep. Percival Cendana of progressive political alliance Akbayan, will be scrutinized by the Philippine Congress in a process that could take weeks or months.

“Vice President Duterte deserves to be impeached for her abuse of power and plunder of the nation’s coffers,” Cendana said in a statement. “The Filipino people deserve a vice president who is ethical, accountable, and committed to public service–not one who weaponizes authority for personal gain.”

The daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte has been embroiled in a row with Marcos and is the subject of an enquiry into her spending by the House of Representatives.

On Nov. 23, Duterte said in an online news conference that she had contracted someone to kill Marcos, his wife and House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she were killed. She later said that she was not threatening him, but was expressing concern for her own safety.

Monday’s complaint also accused her of being “directly involved” in extra-judicial killings of drug suspects in southern Davao City when she was mayor, continuing a deadly crackdown that was started by her father, who formerly held the same position.

The Philippines’ largest alliance of grassroots groups, BAYAN, announced it would also file an impeachment petition against Duterte this week.

Topics: Philippines Sara Duterte

Related

Update Philippine VP Duterte labelled ‘mastermind’ of assassination plot
World
Philippine VP Duterte labelled ‘mastermind’ of assassination plot
Philippine VP Duterte exits Marcos cabinet as their alliance crumbles
World
Philippine VP Duterte exits Marcos cabinet as their alliance crumbles

Latest updates

Israel threatens to expand war if Hezbollah truce collapses
Israel threatens to expand war if Hezbollah truce collapses
Indian tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections
Indian tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections
Coalition denies allegations of handing over Houthi leader's brother's body
Coalition denies allegations of handing over Houthi leader's brother's body
Georgia PM vows retribution for protests as court rejects bid to annul vote
Georgia PM vows retribution for protests as court rejects bid to annul vote
Saudi Arabia’s shift to renewables is reaping economic rewards, says minister
Saudi Arabia’s shift to renewables is reaping economic rewards, says minister

Search form

Print Edition
Read pdf version Subscribe now
© 2024 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.