Swiss national held by Iran on spying charges dies in prison

One of its citizens who was imprisoned on espionage charges in Iran’s Semnan province has died, according to Switzerland.

Pierre-Alain Eltschinger, a spokesman for the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, confirmed the death on Thursday, the Associated Press news agency reported. He claimed that the local authorities had spoken with the Swiss embassy in Tehran to clarify the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Semnan prison is located some 180 kilometres (112 miles) east of Iran’s capital, Tehran.

The unidentified man asked his cellmate to bring him food, according to the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency, and then committed suicide on his own.

“Efforts to save him were unsuccessful”, Mizan quoted Mohammad Sadegh Akbari, the head of the province’s justice department, as saying.

Since the US Embassy took over and held Iranian hostages in 1979, Switzerland serves as a significant intermediary between Tehran and Washington.

Detentions of foreigners

In recent years, Iran’s security forces have arrested dozens of foreigners and dual nationals, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.

Through these arrests, rights groups have accused Iran of trying to entice other nations into concessions. Iran firmly refutes this.

After three weeks in prison and adolescence, Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, a reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was released by the Iranian government on Wednesday.

Sala was a regular journalist with a regular journalist visa when she was detained in Tehran last month on suspicion of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic.”