Sweden has demanded the immediate release from jail in Iran of an EU diplomat who has been accused of spying.

Johan Floderus, 33, is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison ahead of a trial on charges of spying for Israel and "corruption on earth," a crime punishable by death.

Speaking on Monday, Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson said the charges against Floderus are “completely without factual basis”.

He told a press conference in Stockholm: “We demand his immediate release.

We have very intensive work we are showing Iran on this issue. But I will not be going into anything of the contents of that work.”

Floderus was arrested while on holiday in Iran last year. His family insists that the detention lacks justifiable cause or due process.

The situation has sparked concerns among human rights organizations and Western governments, who allege that Iran is leveraging arrests on security charges for political motives. Despite the accusations, Tehran claims that such detentions adhere to its criminal code and are devoid of political motivations.

Diplomatic tensions between Sweden and Iran have risen since 2019, stemming from Sweden's arrest and subsequent life sentence of former Iranian official Hamid Nouri. He was convicted of participating in mass executions and torture of political prisoners in the 1980s. In response, Iran protested by recalling its envoy to Sweden.

In May, Iran carried out the execution of a Swedish-Iranian dissident accused of leading an Arab separatist group. The dissident was alleged to be implicated in attacks including one on a 2018 military parade that claimed 25 lives.