The embassy in Tehran is seeking clarification on how the unidentified prisoner died as justice media reports that he killed himself.
Switzerland has confirmed the death of one of its citizens who was imprisoned on charges of espionage in Iran’s Semnan province.
Pierre-Alain Eltschinger, a spokesman for Switzerland’s federal foreign ministry, confirmed the death on Thursday, the Associated Press news agency reported. He said that the Swiss embassy in Tehran is in contact with local authorities to clarify the circumstances of the incident.
Semnan prison is located some 180 kilometers (112 miles) east of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Iran’s judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported that the man, who has not been identified, asked his roommate to bring him food and then killed himself while alone.
“Efforts to save him were unsuccessful,” Mizan quoted Mohammad Sadegh Akbari, head of the provincial justice department, as saying.
Switzerland has played an important mediating role between Washington and Tehran, representing United States interests in Iran since the 1979 takeover of the US embassy and the hostage crisis.
Detention of foreigners
In recent years, Iranian security forces have arrested dozens of foreigners and dual nationals, mostly on espionage and security-related charges.
Human rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Iran categorically denies this.
On Wednesday, an Italian journalist Cecilia Hall, journalist of Il Foglio newspaper, was released by the Iranian authorities after three weeks in prison and returned home.
Sala was in the country on a regular journalist’s visa when she was detained in Tehran last month, accused of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic”.
Iran denied speculation that her arrest was linked to the detention in Rome of an Iranian businessman accused by the United States of involvement in an attack on its military.
