Swiss dies in Iranian prison
Was he a deposit of the mullahs? The puzzling case of the Swiss who died in Iranian imprisonment
The federal prosecutor examines how the alleged spy died. A National Council now wants to know from the Federal Council whether there is a connection to another spy.
On January 9, 2025, a 64-year-old Swiss is said to have hanged himself in an Iranian prison. This is the representation of the Iranian authorities, which describe the man as « spy ». In October 2024, he had entered Iran as a tourist and later arrested because he photographed military facilities.
The body was transferred to Switzerland on January 22nd. The federal prosecutor opened a procedure to « clarify the circumstances of the death ». An autopsy was ordered. The federal prosecutor does not want to comment on the status of the procedure.
On Monday, the Federal Council has to comment on the case in the question time of the National Council. The Zurich SP National Councilor Fabian Molina asks five questions under the title « Murdered Swiss in Iran? ». The last is particularly explosive. It reads: « Is there a connection between the case with the case Abedini/Sala?»
With “deposit” release
What is meant is the case of Iranian agent Mohamed Abedini, 38, who worked from Lausanne for the revolutionary guards: he supplied it with American components for combat drones. In any case, this was the allegations of the United States, which Abedini had arrested in Milan on December 16. Three days later, Iran arrested the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala. With this “deposit” Iran obtained the release of Abedini in January 2025.
Mohammad Abedini had a residence permit in Switzerland. From here he is said to have obtained the drone technology for Iran. Is his case related to that of the Swiss who allegedly committed suicide in Iranian imprisonment?
Is there a connection between the case of Abedini, which had a residence permit in Switzerland, and the fall of the deceased Swiss? Was this, as SP National Councilor Molina suspected, was it arrested in Iran to press Abedini free?
The thesis is not absurd, as the chronology shows.
– August 2024. Abedini's accomplice Mahdi Mohammed Sadeghi was searched by the US customs and border protection authority when he returned from Iran. This emerges from US documents. Sadeghi denied the US officials to do business with Iran. At the latest now, Iran must have expected the Americans to have their people in their sights.
– Between October 2024 and December 10, 2024: The Swiss “spy” will be arrested in Iran. Switzerland suspects that this happened in November.
– December 10, 2024. The Iranians inform Switzerland that a Swiss citizen had been arrested. They do not put the identity of the man open.
– December 16, 2024: The Iranian Agent Abedini is arrested in Milan for the request of the United States. The USA apply for delivery. At the same time in the USA, the Sageghi accomplice is arrested.
– December 19, 2024: The Italian journalist Cecilia Sala is arrested in Tehran.
– December 31, 2024: Iran announces the identity of the arrested.
-January 4, 2025. Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travels to the designated US President Trump. He assures that the United States will not insist on Abedini's delivery. The way for an exchange is free.
– January 8, 2025. The Italian journalist Sala is released by Iran.
– January 9, 2025. The Swiss “spy” is said to take life in prison.
– January 12, 2025: Melonis Minister of Justice has Abedini's release. He is immediately put on a plane in Tehran.
Unanswered questions such as: When was the man arrested?
Not only the question of the cause of death of the Swiss is in the room. Also questions like: When exactly was the man arrested? Why was Switzerland left in uncertain about its identity? Why was contact with the message refused to him?
The explanation for Iran's secrecy could be that the Iranians arrested the Swiss as a precaution in order to be able to exchange him for Abedini if it had been delivered in Switzerland. Exile-Iraner in Switzerland suspected such a connection from the start.
This speaks for: At the latest since August 2024, Iran had to expect that his agents were in the US visor. Perhaps he knew about the US criminal proceedings that had been running for a long time. In the case of Abedini, Iran had to assume that the United States would get to Switzerland, that Abedini would be arrested here: The man lived in Lausanne finally, had his company, through which he organized the arms deliveries.
« We have one of you »
If you continue this consideration: Then it made sense for the Iranian regime to arrest a Swiss as a « spy » as a precaution. And to signal this in Switzerland diffusely, perhaps in the sense of a warning: « We have one of you, think well whether you want to arrest Abedini. »
If that was the case, the Iranians had to reschedule when Abedini was arrested on December 16 when he returned from Iran in Italy instead of in Switzerland. They now needed an Italian instead of the Swiss deposit.
Not only is the case itself, but also the person of the Swiss who died tragically. He is said to have lived in Namibia for years, but apparently nobody knows him at the Swiss colony there. It seems just as puzzling what he wanted in Iran: Was he really just a naive tourist, or was he a agent disguised as a hobby photographer? If so, for which state was he on the road?
