A Swiss national who had been arrested in Iran on charges of espionage has reportedly died in prison, according to Iranian state media. The incident occurred at a facility in the eastern city of Semnan, where the man was being held alongside another inmate. According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the individual allegedly “committed suicide” on Thursday.
The judiciary-run Mizan News Agency confirmed the death, stating that prison officials made immediate attempts to save the Swiss citizen, but their efforts proved unsuccessful. Mizan did not provide further details regarding the identity of the deceased individual.
In an official statement, Mohammad Sadegh Akbari, the chief justice of Semnan, said the man had been arrested by Iranian security forces on suspicion of espionage. The statement also noted that an investigation into the case is ongoing.
The Swiss Foreign Affairs Department confirmed the death of the Swiss citizen and stated that its embassy is in contact with Iranian authorities regarding the matter. The department is working to obtain further details surrounding the incident.
Switzerland plays a crucial role as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran, often representing U.S. interests in Iran and facilitating communications between the two countries. In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested several dual nationals and foreigners, often accusing them of espionage and threatening national security.
The circumstances surrounding this latest death are still under investigation, and further information is awaited.
Courtesy: Daily Mail
References
Jeroen Temperman (2010). State-Religion Relationships and Human Rights Law: Towards a Right to Religiously Neutral Governance. Brill. pp. 87–. ISBN 978-90-04-18148-9. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2015. The official motto of Iran is [the] Takbir (‘God is the Greatest’ or ‘God is Great’). Transliteration Allahu Akbar. As referred to in art. 18 of the constitution of Iran (1979). The de facto motto however is: ‘Independence, freedom, the Islamic Republic.’
^ “Surface water and surface water change”. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
^ Jump up to:a b “Estimated population in Iran by province in 2024”. www.iranopendata.org/fa/. Iran Open Data (IOD). 5 December 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
^ Jump up to:a b c d “World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (Iran)”. International Monetary Fund. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
^ “Gini Index coefficient”. The World Factbook. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
^ “Human Development Report 2023/24” (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. p. 289. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
^ Jump up to:a b “Definition of IRAN”. merriam-webster.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
^ Jump up to:a b MacKenzie 1998.
^ Laroche. 1957. Proto-Iranian *arya- descends from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *ar-yo-, a yo-adjective to a root *ar “to assemble skillfully”, present in Greek harma “chariot”, Greek aristos, (as in “aristocracy“), Latin ars “art”, etc.
^ Wilson, Arnold (2012). “The Middle Ages: Fars”. The Persian Gulf (RLE Iran A). Routledge. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-136-84105-7.
^ Borjian, Maryam; Borjian, Habib (2011). “Plights of Persian in the Modernization Era”. In Fishman, Joshua A; García, Ofelia (eds.). Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: Volume 2: The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-19-539245-6. ‘Iran’ and ‘Persia’ are synonymous. The former has always been used by Iranian-speaking peoples themselves, while the latter has served as the international name of the country in various languages, ever since it was introduced by the Greeks some twenty-five centuries ago. In 1935, however, the nationalist administration under Reza Shah Pahlavi (see below) made a successful effort to replace ‘Persia’ with ‘Iran,’ apparently to underline the nation’s ‘Aryan’ pedigree to the international community. The latter term used to signify all branches of the Indo-European language family (and even the ‘race’ of their speakers), but was practically abandoned after World War II.
^ Lewis, Geoffrey (1984). “The naming of names”. British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Bulletin. 11 (2): 121–124. doi:10.1080/13530198408705394. ISSN 0305-6139.
^ Persia Archived 15 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica, “The term Persia was used for centuries … [because] use of the name was gradually extended by the ancient Greeks and other peoples to apply to the whole Iranian plateau.”
^ Jump up to:a b “Your Gateway to Knowledge”. Knowledge Zone. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
^ “Fars Province, Iran”. Persia Advisor. Archived from the original on 2 May 2024. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
^ Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. “Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica”. iranicaonline.org. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
^ “Eight Thousand Years of History in Fars Province, Iran”. Research Gate. 12 May 2005. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
^ “From Cyrus to Alexander : a history of the Persian Empire | WorldCat.org”. search.worldcat.org. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
^ Austin, Peter (2008). One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25560-9.
^ Dandamaev, M. A. (1989). A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-09172-6.
^ “Persia Changes Its Name; To Be ‘Iran’ From Mar. 22”. The New York Times. 1 January 1935. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
^ “Persia or Iran, a brief history”. Art-arena.com. Archived from the original on 23 May 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
^ Christoph Marcinkowski (2010). Shi’ite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 83. ISBN 978-3-643-80049-7. Retrieved 21 June 2013. The ‘historical lands of Iran’ – ‘Greater Iran’ – were always known in the Persian language as Irānshahr or Irānzamīn.
^ Frye, Richard Nelson (October 1962). “Reitzenstein and Qumrân Revisited by an Iranian”. The Harvard Theological Review. 55 (4): 261–268. doi:10.1017/S0017816000007926. JSTOR 1508723. S2CID 162213219. I use the term Iran in an historical context […] Persia would be used for the modern state, more or less equivalent to “western Iran”. I use the term “Greater Iran” to mean what I suspect most Classicists and ancient historians really mean by their use of Persia – that which was within the political boundaries of States ruled by Iranians.
^ Richard Frye (2012). Persia (RLE Iran A). Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-136-84154-5. Retrieved 21 June 2013. This ‘greater Iran’ included and still includes part of the Caucasus Mountains, Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iraq; for Kurds, Baluchis, Afghans, Tajiks, Ossetes, and other smaller groups are Iranians
^ Farrokh, Kaveh. Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. ISBN 1-84603-108-7
^ “Iran”. Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
^ “Iran”. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
^ “How do you say Iran?”. Voice of America. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
^ People, “New evidence: modern civilization began in Iran”, 10 Aug 2007 Archived 24 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 1 October 2007
^ Azadpour, M. “HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH”. Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
^ https://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9371723 Archived 2008-04-29 at the Wayback Machine Encyclopædia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Article: Media
^ Baten, Jörg (2016). A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-107-50718-0.
^ R. M. Savory, “Safavids”, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition
^ “The Islamic World to 1600”, Applied History Research Group, University of Calgary, 1998 Archived 2008-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 1 October 2007
^ Dowling, Timothy C. (2014). Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond. 2 volumes. ABC-CLIO. pp. 728–729. ISBN 978-1-59884-948-6.
^ “Iran Islamic Republic”, Archived 2006-03-16 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 23 January 2008
^ “International relations / The Iranian revolution”. Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 January 2008. Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2024. (subscription required)
^ “Ahmadinejad critic Larijani re-elected Iran speaker”. BBC News. 5 June 2012. Archived from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
^ Borger, Julian; Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (19 September 2013). “Hassan Rouhani sets out his vision for a new and free Iran”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 12 November 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
^ Kutsch, Tom (14 July 2015). “Iran, world powers strike historic nuclear deal”. Aljazeera America. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
^ Brewer, Eric (25 June 2024). “Iran’s New Nuclear Threat”. Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
^ “U.S. killing of Iran’s second most powerful man risks regional conflagration”. Reuters. 4 January 2020. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
^ Carolien Roelants, Iran expert of NRC Handelsblad, in a debate on Buitenhof on Dutch television, 5 January 2020.
^ Never-before-seen video of the attack on Al Asad Airbase, 28 February 2021, archived from the original on 23 February 2022, retrieved 8 January 2024
^ “109 US troops diagnosed with brain injuries from Iran attack”. Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
^ “Pentagon admits 109 brain injuries in Iran attack – DW – 02/10/2020”. dw.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
^ Starr, Barbara (10 February 2020). “Over 100 US troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following Iran strike | CNN Politics”. CNN. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
^ Motamedi, Maziar. “Hardliner Raisi elected Iran’s new president”. Al Jazeera.
^ “Several killed in Israeli strike on Iranian consulate in Damascus”. Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ “Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria killed 2 generals and 5 other officers, Iran says”. AP News. 1 April 2024. Archived from the original on 19 April 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ center, This aerial view shows Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport in the; April 5, the surrounding urban areas in Lodin central Israel on; Images, 2024-ROY ISSA/AFP via Getty (15 April 2024). “How Iran’s attack on Israel is disrupting air traffic – Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East”. www.al-monitor.com. Archived from the original on 1 May 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ Toossi, Sina (2 May 2024). “Iran Has Defined Its Red Line With Israel”. Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 1 May 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ “What was in wave of Iranian attacks and how were they thwarted?”. 14 April 2024. Archived from the original on 14 April 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ Borger, Julian (14 April 2024). “US and UK forces help shoot down Iranian drones over Jordan, Syria and Iraq”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 14 April 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ “Macron: France intercepted Iranian drones ‘at Jordan’s request'”. POLITICO. 15 April 2024. Archived from the original on 15 April 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ “The largest drone attack in history”. iranpress.com. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ Motamedi, Maziar. “‘True Promise’: Why and how did Iran launch a historic attack on Israel?”. Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 14 April 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ “Iran launches first-ever direct attack on Israel”. ABC7 New York. 13 April 2024. Archived from the original on 1 May 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ “How Israel could respond to Iran’s drone and missile assault”. France 24. 18 April 2024. Archived from the original on 1 May 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ Johny, Stanly (14 April 2024). “Analysis | By attacking Israel, Iran turns shadow war into direct conflict”. The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 14 April 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
^ Staff, Al Jazeera. “Who died alongside Iran’s President Raisi in the helicopter crash?”. Al Jazeera.
^ “Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon who rose to power in parliament, now Iran’s president-elect”. AP News. 6 July 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
^ Fassihi, Farnaz; Vinograd, Cassandra (6 July 2024). “Reformist Candidate Wins Iran’s Presidential Election”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
^ “What we know about Israel’s attack on Iran”. www.bbc.com.
^ “Iran’s Strategy in the Strait of Hormuz”. The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
^ “CIA – The World Factbook”. Cia.gov. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
^ “Which country has the most earthquakes?”. United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
^ “هر ده سال، یک زلزله ۷ ریشتری در کشور رخ میدهد | خبرگزاری ایلنا”. Ilna.news. 13 October 2012. Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
^ “The 5 Hottest Deserts in the World”. MapQuest Travel. 9 Nov