Johan Floderus, who was arrested at Tehran airport in April last year, is accused of being involved in US and European projects.

Iran says it has opened a trial against a Swedish citizen employed by the European Union on charges of spying for Israel and “corruption on earth,” a crime punishable by the death penalty.

Johan Floderus was charged “due to corruption on Earth and widespread activities against national security.” [and] “Comprehensive intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime,” a reference to Israel, Iran’s judicial news agency Mizan said in an online report on Sunday.

Corruption on earth is a capital crime according to Iran’s Islamic laws.

Floderus, 33, what arrested on April 17, 2022, at Tehran airport as he returned from a trip to Iran with friends. The Swede, who works for the EU diplomatic service, is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison.

Mizan released photos of a handcuffed Floderus appearing before judges in a light blue prison uniform during the reading of the charges.

The Iranian judiciary said in a statement that Floderus collected information for Israel with the help of projects from the United States and European institutions.

Iranian officials said he had been in contact with several European and non-European suspects in Iran and had visited Israel, Iran’s enemy, before his visit to Iran. The statement accused Sweden of proxy spying for Israel.

Sweden said on Sunday that Floderus’ trial had begun in Iran, but did not say what he was accused of.

“Johan Floderus was arbitrarily detained and all accusations and accusations are false,” a spokesman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry said in emailed comments to Reuters.

“We have made this clear to Iran at different levels and at different times, most recently yesterday [Saturday].”

Floderus’ family said he was arrested “without probable cause or due process.”

The EU’s top foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called for his immediate release on Sunday, saying: “There is absolutely no reason to keep Johan Floderus in custody.”

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom added: “There is no basis whatsoever for keeping Johan Floderus in custody, let alone bringing him to justice.”

Human rights groups and Western governments accuse Iran of trying to force political concessions from other countries through arrests on possibly trumped-up security charges.

Tehran says such arrests are based on its penal code and denies detaining people for political reasons.

Relations between Sweden and Iran have been strained since 2019, when Sweden arrested Hamid Noury, a former Iranian official, for his involvement in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s.

Finally, in July 2022, Noury ​​received a life sentence. The appeal court in Sweden is expected to deliver a verdict in the case on December 19.

In May of this year, Iran executed Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Farajollah Chaab, who was convicted of leading a separatist group, blames Tehran for several attacks, including one on a military parade in 2018 that killed 25 people.