Iran's official IRNA news agency says the foreign ministry has summoned Sweden's ambassador over the Nordic country decision to grant citizenship to an Iranian researcher who is in jail in Tehran.
Ahmadreza Jalali (or Djalali), a resident of Sweden since 2009, is a physician and researcher affiliated with the Karolinska Institute near Stockholm. While on an official academic visit hosted by Tehran University, Jalali was accused of collaboration with a hostile government and arrested in April 2016 and later condemned to death.
Tuesday's report says the ministry summoned Ambassador Helena Sangeland on Monday to protest the granting of citizenship to Ahmad Reza Jalali, calling the move "unconventional, question-posing and unfriendly."
Iran does not recognize dual nationality. Jalali was shown on state TV in December confessing to providing information to Israel's Mossad spy agency about Iranian military and nuclear scientists, including two who were assassinated in 2010.
Later, Jalai's family provided an audio clip from him saying that he had confessed under duress.
Rights groups have condemned Jalali's detention, saying it follows a pattern of Iran detaining dual nationals and expatriates indefinitely without due process.
