Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde stated on Tuesday that she spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and asked him to spare the life of Swedish-Iranian physician Ahmadreza Djalali, who was condemned for death for spying for Israel.

“Sweden condemns the death penalty and is working to ensure that the verdict against Ahmadreza Djalali is not enforced,” Linde wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

Djalali, a professor and a specialist in emergency medicine, was arrested in 2016 while on a visit to Iran and charged with spying for Israel, among other things. He was later found guilty for providing information about two Iranian nuclear scientists to Israel’s Mossad that led to their assassinations.

Djalali told human rights groups that his confessions were a result of torture and threats to his family and the charges are due to the fact that he refused Iran’s request to serve as a spy after returning to Sweden.

Djalali’s wife said on Tuesday that her husband told her he was being transferred to an isolation cell in another prison in preparation for his execution.

Djalali’s death sentence has been condemned by Amnesty International and other rights groups.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)