According to information, Foxtrot’s leader Rawa Majid has been arrested in Iran, something SVT was the first to report on.
That could make him a pawn in a political game, says Pål Wrange, professor of international law at Stockholm University.
– If he ends up in Turkey, we are back to square one, he says.
Gang leader Rawa Majid is said to have been arrested during a traffic control at the border crossing between Iran and Iraq, according to information to several media. At 3:30 p.m. on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet been able to confirm whether a Swedish citizen has been arrested in Iran.
– We will return to that issue, says Tomas Vanecek, press communicator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In several media there are also reports that he would not have been arrested. Among other things, an audio file circulating in social media is mentioned in which, what is claimed to be Rawa Majid’s voice, says that he “has not cod”.
Will soon understand that he is valuable
If he has been arrested, Majid could soon become a commodity in a diplomatic game, says Pål Wrange.
– Although the Iranian authorities may not have known who Rawa Majid was when he crossed the border, they may have just seen him as another illegal immigrant, they will probably soon understand that he is a person who can be valuable, says Pål Wrange.
Sweden and Iran currently do not have an extradition treaty with each other regarding prisoner exchanges. However, Iran can still choose to extradite Majid to Sweden.
– You can also choose to let him become a political pawn in a game. Iran wants a man named Hamid Noury returned to Iran, says Pål Wrange.
Hamid Noury was sentenced to life in prison in Sweden for crimes he committed in Iran in 1988, something TV4 has previously reported on. Much indicates that the Swedish EU diplomat Johan Floderus, who was arrested 1.5 years ago, is already a pawn in that game – something that Rawa Majid can now also become, says Pål Wrange.
Iran’s next move
According to him, it is likely that Majid has crossed the border without permission and what is now Iran’s next move is still unclear. But there are several different options, says Pål Wrange.
One is that he is charged in Iran with a crime, for example that he has crossed the border illegally, but he could also be released, sent to Sweden or rejected to Turkey where he came from and where he is a citizen.
– If he is sent to Turkey, we are back at square one. Sweden has requested Rawa Majid be extradited from Turkey but Turkey has said no because he is a Turkish citizen and Turkey does not extradite its citizens, says Pål Wrange.
The drug and the war
The gang war around Rawa Majid, the “Kurdish Fox”, is raging. Children kill and are killed. TV4 News tells the story of the crimes and innocent victims.