The signatories of the letter describe themselves as former hostages in Iran, and are of different nationalities.
In the letter, they draw attention to a post that Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X last week.
A few days after KI researcher Ahmadreza Djalali, who has been imprisoned in Iran for over nine years, suffered a heart attack, Araghchi linked his case to Swedish politics.
One question that Araghchi raised was that Sweden, since sanctions were imposed on Iran, stopped exporting Swedish-produced wound dressings used to treat the skin disease EB (Epidermolysis Bullosa, also called butterfly disease).
"This moment offers a rare opportunity for dual humanitarian efforts" the former prisoners write in the letter, and urge the country to resolve the sanctions-related obstacles blocking the export of the dressings.
The letter writers, who all sat in Evin Prison where Djalali has been imprisoned since 2016, interpret Araghchi's statement as saying that such a solution is not only feasible but also welcome.
Exchanging a prisoner for medical equipment could also serve as a model for other European countries whose citizens have been arbitrarily detained by Iran, according to the letter writers.
Among the signatories are, among others, Swedish Johan Floderus, who was released in a notable prisoner exchange with Iran in the summer of 2024.
Ahmadreza Djalali is a doctor and researcher in disaster medicine. He defended his thesis at Karolinska Institutet in 2012.
In 2016, he was arrested in Iran, where he had traveled to participate in a seminar on disaster medicine. He has since been sentenced to death for allegations that he has always denied.
Djalali became a Swedish citizen in 2018.
But when Sweden carried out a prisoner exchange with Iran in 2024, to bring home Swedish citizens in exchange for the Iranian Hamid Noury, who was sentenced to life in Sweden, he was left behind. According to the Swedish government, Iran did not even want to discuss his case in the negotiations.
During the more than nine years he has been imprisoned in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, his health has deteriorated significantly. In May 2025, he suffered a heart attack.
