The Edelstam Foundation, Reporters Without Borders and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights express strong support for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ latest statement on Ahmadreza Djalali, the Swedish citizen and Iranian academic who is at risk of execution and whose health condition has seriously deteriorated. We welcome the government’s resolute action to ensure Djalali’s human rights and demand his immediate release and access to medical care.
Link to the government’s statement in full
In this regard, we would like to emphasize the importance of the government acting equally consistently and forcefully in other similar cases where the human rights of Swedish citizens are violated. We are highlighting the cases of Dawit Isaak and Gui Minhai at this time because the government’s clear stance on Ahmadreza Djalali sets an important standard that should also apply to other Swedish citizens whose situations are equally urgent and serious.
The journalist Dawit Isaak has been imprisoned in Eritrea for over 23 years without trial. His situation bears many similarities to Djalali’s and his health is feared to be very poor. The same applies to Gui Minhai, the Swedish publisher who was kidnapped by the Chinese state from his holiday home in Thailand in 2015 and has been imprisoned in China since then. In both cases, there are good reasons to assume that their health is seriously threatened.
We therefore urge the government to demand with the same determination and principledness:
- Immediate release on humanitarian grounds.
- Immediate access to medical care.
- Reunification with their families.
- Immediate consular access.
“Sweden and the EU have on several occasions strongly opposed the death penalty and advocated for human rights. We now want to see the same diplomatic force mobilized to secure the release of Dawit Isaak and Gui Minhai,” says Caroline Edelstam, President of the Edelstam Foundation.
“It is crucial that the Swedish government acts when the human rights of Swedish citizens are violated, not least to live up to Sweden’s international commitments and strengthen the country’s credibility on human rights issues. We welcome that Ahmadreza Djalali’s case has been highlighted and hope that the government will also act more actively to secure the release of Dawit Isaak and Gui Minhai,” says Erik Larsson, President of Reporters Without Borders Sweden.
CONTACT
Caroline Edelstam, President of the Edelstam Foundation
Tel: +46 (0)706 98 72 23, mail: caroline.edelstam@edelstam.org
www.edelstamprize.org / www.edelstam.org
Erik Larsson, President of Reporters without Borders Sweden
Tel: + 46 (0)703 196 905, mail: erik.larsson@reportrarutangranser.se
www.reportrarutangranser.se
Susanne Berger, Senior Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
Tel: +1 571 594 1701, mail: sberger37@hotmail.com
https://www.raoulwallenbergcentre.org
