Report: Iran summons Swedish envoy over granting citizenship

TEHRAN, Iran – 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.

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, jailed since April 2016, 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.

Rights groups have condemned Jalali’s detention, saying it follows a pattern of Iran detaining dual nationals and expatriates indefinitely without due process.