Journalist Martin Schibbye was sentenced together with photographer Johan Persson to eleven years in prison in Ethiopia for illegally entering the country during a reporting trip in 2011, and remained there for 438 days.
Schibbye has since committed to colleagues in similar situations, and is happy that Swedes Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi have now been reunited with their families after being imprisoned in Iran.
– There are incredible scenes to see Johan hugging his parents and his sisters, to see how the wounds in a family heal. Just six months ago, the Iranian prosecutor called for the death penalty, and that was the reality they needed to face. To then be thrown from that to freedom, it’s fantastic to see, says Schibbye to TV4 Nyheterna.
Can deal with feelings of guilt by getting involved
Floderus and Azizi were able to return home after a prisoner exchange in which Iran received the life-sentenced executioner Hamid Noury in exchange.
But critical voices have pointed out that the Swedish researcher Ahmadreza Djalali remains in captivity in Iran.
– I am completely devastated, we had hope but now it has left us, said his wife Vida Mehrannia in Nyhetsmorgen earlier on Monday.
Martin Schibbye says that he felt guilty when he had to leave the Ethiopian prison while his Ethiopian colleagues remained.
– It is something that they (Floderus and Azizi) will have to deal with and lie sleepless at night. But I think a way out could be to commit to Djalali, to get in touch with his wife and use the platform they’ve got now, says Schibbye.
Hope to find out more details
According to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, attempts were made to also include Djalali, but there were no conditions at all to have him released.
When asked how he views the Swedish government’s actions, Martin Schibbye replies that he hopes that more information will emerge about the negotiations.
– If you talked to people about exchanging prisoners with dictatorships six months ago, it was unthinkable. But now we are there, and it creates a host of new dangers for Swedish citizens when we travel in countries that may have citizens imprisoned in Sweden. It can make it more risky to be Swedish in the host, he says and continues:
– But if we go that way, we have imprisoned Eritrean citizens that Eritrea wants and has requested. It might be a way to get Dawit Isak back. If that’s the game we’re going to play now, we have to take stock of what other cards we have to play.