Ahmadreza Jalali's Daughter: 'We Want Answers'

The family of Ahmadreza Jalali, a Swedish-Iranian doctor currently on death row in Iran, has demanded answers from the Swedish government for "leaving him behind" following a prisoner swap between the two countries.

"We want answers," Jalali's daughter told IranWire. "Over a week has passed, but we are still waiting for the Swedish prime minister and foreign minister to give us a call."

"Last week's news was one of the most difficult moments of these past years. We know how brutal the Iranian government has been, but I did not expect the Swedish government to make such a decision and leave behind a Swedish citizen who has been held the longest with the harshest sentence," she said.

The June 15 prisoner swap saw the release of Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian official convicted and jailed in Sweden for war crimes and mass executions during the 1989 government killings of political prisoners in Iran.

"My father was in shock. He could not believe it when he saw it in the news in prison," his daughter said.

He asked his family if the Swedish government had spoken with them before the deal.

"And our answer was no," she said. "We found out on the news too."

In exchange, Tehran freed two Swedish citizens, Johan Floderus, a diplomat, and Saeed Azizi.

Jalali was banned from contacting his family for several days after criticizing the Swedish Prime Minister for "leaving him behind," according to his daughter.

"For several days, he was not able to call us after a recording of his voice was spread in the media," she said.

Jalali also demanded answers from the Swedish government for "leaving him behind."

"Mr. Prime Minister, you decided to leave me behind under a huge risk of being executed," he said in an audio clip obtained by IranWire from Iran's notorious Evin Prison.

"You did not act to deal with altering my condition and cancelling the death sentence before the swap was done," he said in the voice note.

"Why not me? After 3,000 days. You certainly remember two years ago when the Iranian government announced a two-week deadline for executing me just because of political challenges between the two countries, and I was used as leverage," he said.

Jalali, a university lecturer and expert in disaster medicine, was arrested in Iran in 2016.

In 2017, he told his family that he was sentenced to death after he refused to cooperate with Iran's Intelligence organization and spy on Iranian scientists abroad.

Jalali is suffering from serious health problems, and Amnesty International has urged Tehran’s Prosecutor General to allow him to receive specialized medical care.

"We are still waiting for answers on how they could make such an inhumane decision and leave Ahmadreza behind," his daughter said.

"We need clear answers on what the next plans are in order to secure my father's release and also prevent the death sentence from happening, as my father is at even higher risk of execution after this deal was made," she added.

Now a 22-year-old medical student, she was just 13 years old when she last saw her father in person.

The gravity of her father's situation hit home in 2020 when Iranian authorities threatened to transfer Jalali to another prison to carry out his execution.

"I was 13 when my father was detained, and I do as much as I can to help my father," she said.

According to Vida Mehrannia, Jalali's wife, there were fears in 2017 that he had leukaemia, but prison authorities blocked his treatment.

In February 2022, Mehrannia reported that her husband was returned to prison just a day after surgery for acute intestinal adhesions.

Western governments have repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of taking dual and foreign nationals hostage to then use them in prisoner swaps or as a bargaining chip in international negotiations.

Many European countries have urged their nationals not to travel to Iran, warning that they face the risk of arbitrary arrest or unfair trial.