Agence France Presse – Two Swedish nationals have been jailed in Iran, the Swedish foreign ministry said Wednesday amid newspaper reports that the pair were arrested for illegally photographing naval facilities.
The Swedish embassy in Iran was "working intensively" to secure their release, ministry spokeswoman Petra Hansson told AFP.
She would neither disclose when the two Swedes were detained nor what they were doing in the country.
But Swedish daily Aftonbladet reported that the men, aged between 30 and 40 and from western Sweden, are construction workers who have been held for a month.
Iranian authorities have accused them of illegally photographing naval installations on the island of Qeshm off southern Iran.
Sweden’s charge d’affaires in Tehran, Soeren Lundvall, told Aftonbladet that he had spoken to the men, who are being held in a prison in Bandar-e Abbas, and that they were being treated well.
"They didn’t realize the severity of the photo ban," Lundvall said, adding that such offences carry tough sentences in Iran.
He said the Iranian authorities’ investigation would continue throughout the year, possibly longer, and that the men would remain in jail for the duration.
