"After two long years, I am finally a free man."
That's what Johan Floderus says in a statement from the family, a couple of days after the highly publicised prisoner exchange.
On arrival, he took the opportunity to propose to his boyfriend.
Just a few days ago, Johan Floderus landed in Sweden after nearly 800 days in an Iranian prison. In a video sequence published by Expressen, Floderus is seen going down on one knee and proposing to his boyfriend shortly after arrival.
In a statement from the family on Tuesday, Johan Floderus also announces that he is getting married.
"After two long years, I am finally a free man, reunited with my family, engaged and able to get married. I want to thank all of you who made this possible: friends and strangers from near and far. The dream that I sometimes didn't dare believe in has come true – to be back with my loved ones and to live my life in freedom".
In the statement, the family also thanks everyone for their efforts in connection with his arrest and imprisonment.
"We can't find words to express how grateful we are for this. It feels unreal. A chapter in our lives is over and a new one can begin", the family writes.
"Our thoughts are with the other prisoners who are still suffering in Iranian prisons".
They express gratitude towards the Swedish politicians and the EU Commission who worked for Johan Floderus' release. The Swedish embassy in Iran is also mentioned as having played a significant role in making the time in prison bearable.
"We don't know all the names in the government and security services who worked for this outcome... But we know that they made our family's reunion possible".
33-year-old Johan Floderus is an EU official from western Sweden who has, among other things, worked closely with Sweden's EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson.
In the spring of 2022, he travelled to Iran with friends, on what was, according to the family, a holiday trip. He was arrested and accused of spying for Israel and "spreading corruption in the world". He has, among other things, been subjected to torture and gone on hunger strike in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.
In an exchange with life-sentenced Hamid Noury, Floderus and Saeed Azizi, who was arrested in Iran last year, were released.
Noury was lured to Sweden by exiled Iranians in 2019, arrested, and sentenced for his involvement in mass executions at a prison in Tehran in 1988.
