In a world where conflicts dominate the headlines, quiet diplomacy offers a less visible, but no less powerful, path to solutions. But the choice between engaging in public criticism and confrontation versus working discreetly and tactfully behind the scenes is not easy.
Av Martin Schibbye 9 februari, 2024
“It is common human wisdom that it rarely pays to shout and scream.” Those words were often repeated by Sweden’s then-ambassador to Ethiopia, Jens Odlander, during our many meetings in the prison director’s office in Kality while I and Johan Persson were imprisoned. When he saw how provoked I became by it, he sometimes added that ”a diplomat was worth more than 1000 journalists.” The expression is central to the book on ”Silent Diplomacy” that he later wrote.
Silent diplomacy is one of the most maligned and difficult to define concepts of our time, but I would not be free without it, and it is a tool that deserves its place in the toolbox.
Now that EU diplomat Johan Floderus may soon be sentenced to death, I am often asked by the media this cold winter about my view of silent diplomacy in light of the 438 days. After several public conversations on Swedish media, I have gathered my thoughts.
The question of which strategy is the best is difficult. The countries are different. The time is different. The diplomatic tensions differ. The Ambassador Jens Odlander writes in his book on silent diplomacy that before considering what action and what arguments lead in the right direction and what arguments and what action can lead to the issue being locked ”one must try to understand the country.”
The central part of the work to get me and Johan out was not whether it was right with blunt or silent diplomacy – but to try to understand where the country was now and its history. That in turn required ”detective work with political science elements of power analysis” to be able to answer the question: ”How do you get a regime to turn the key to the cell?”
Here, Johan Floderus’ background can be to his advantage. For many years he has been interested in the culture and history of the Middle East. He has traveled in the region to study the language, explore historical sites and support humanitarian cooperation projects in Iran on behalf of the EU. But since he was taken at Tehran airport on April 17, 2022 on his way home from a trip with friends, he has been isolated for long periods without adequate food rations, outdoor walks and medical checks.
To summarize the strategy with getting us out was that Ethiopia should not lose face. Silent diplomacy aimed not to mix prestige into the issue. If they felt that it would be a loss of prestige to meet Sweden, it would not bear fruit.
The analysis was that constant confrontation leads to the regime having to speak out and if it does so in a certain direction a number of times it will soon be difficult for it to change its position.
The key for the Swedish diplomats then was to find a solution where the Ethiopian government would not be blamed for its actions. Even though our legal process, like the one in Iran, is a political spectacle, there was not much else to do than to play along. They also have the trump card here because they have Floderus imprisoned.
Even beyond being impolite, it is considered inappropriate for politicians to interfere in another country’s legal process, even if it is the mills of a dictatorship that are grinding. Once a verdict has been passed, diplomacy and politics can step in.
For my own part, the absurdity was revealed by the joy I felt at being sentenced to eleven years in prison! Finally, I didn’t have to be driven in handcuffs in the prison transport to the courthouse. Finally, facts in a sea of guesses! Once the legal process was over, it was possible to seek clemency or, as in Floderus’ case, explore other options such as prisoner exchanges.
This work is sometimes done through subtle signals. Like when Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi died and the former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt rushed down to attend the funeral. He didn’t have to say anything, but just being there at the coffin and marking his presence was more than enough to seal the promise of our freedom.
Politics could now be met with politics.
Through the international rules on consular access, we could meet the embassy every 14 days, sometimes more often. Floderus, on the other hand, has only had a handful of visits since 2022 and the family is advised against traveling to Tehran. Ethiopia wanted to play ball, while Iran has penalized itself from the international arena.
We also all have different roles to play. We should not all try to become diplomats, that would be a disaster. The mission of journalism is to scrutinize what is being done to get him free, the work of democracy activists and human rights organizations is to change Iran and the role of the family to be family. Different instruments in the same orchestra.
Sometimes our politicians will pretend it’s raining when Amnesty comes out with a report on the death penalty in Iran. Sometimes they will attend press conferences when the report is released.
The work of freeing a person can benefit from both approaches at different times.
For a long time, there was also a deafening silence about Floderus’ imprisonment. Probably to give the diplomats the best chance of success, under the radar, beyond the public eye. Few knew that something had happened and both family and politicians kept the case out of the media in the hope that no charges would be brought. When Iran finally indicted Floderus, the news reached all the world’s media and the case entered a new phase.
All solutions also come with a price. In our case, there was great concern about what would happen to the pardon itself as an instrument for others if we apologized and then wrote a book. That concern turned out to be unfounded as both journalists and political prisoners have continued to be pardoned in the thousands.
The same debate arose during the Syrian Civil War when groups like ISIS, instead of allowing themselves to be interviewed by war correspondents, began to kidnap them and execute them in front of the cameras. Should families and countries pay ransoms to get them free – or would this encourage more kidnappings? Some countries paid and their citizens went free. Others refused and journalists were executed. Even these payments do not seem to have set a precedent or led to a wave of new kidnappings.
In the early 2000s, two Swedish concrete workers were held in Iran for 426 days after accidentally photographing restricted areas in the capital as tourists. In the Swedish journalist Jesper Bengtsson’s book on the case, he notes that it was silent diplomacy that finally succeeded, but that next time it could also be completely wrong.
“Is it defensible to start a dialogue with a regime you dislike? Should a broad opinion be raised, for example through appeals in newspapers? Each drama has its answer,” he writes in the book.
Further moral dilemmas arise when considering options such as prisoner exchanges, which reflect the constant balancing act between upholding principles and saving lives.
The question of whether it would be right or wrong to exchange Floderus for Hamid Noury, convicted of war crimes in Sweden, is not an easy one. Noury was a key figure in the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners in Evin Prison, where thousands of Iranians were killed over a number of weeks. The sentence, life imprisonment, against him in the Stockholm District Court is seen as a milestone for the question of justice.
According to the district court ruling, Noury selected which prisoners would be brought before a committee that decided on execution. He escorted them to the execution room and also participated in the execution on one occasion. Noury denies the crime.
On the one hand, it would anger a large group of exiled Iranians who have finally received justice – on the other hand, we save another person back to freedom. In the region, such prisoner exchanges are more commonplace than here, and even if it would be legally problematic, all solutions must be on the table.
This spring, Iran released Olivier Vandecasteele, who had worked for several aid organizations and was sentenced to 40 years in prison and 74 lashes for espionage and money laundering in January 2023. He was released in May of the same year after an exchange for an Iranian diplomat convicted of terrorism in Belgium. He was in prison for a total of 455 days. To make the exchange possible, Belgium and Iran signed an agreement that allows for prisoner exchanges.
Such a solution would be new for Sweden and the question is whether it is politically and legally possible? Most likely, Sweden wants to find another solution to the case through silent diplomacy. Right now, it is complicated by the fact that the Noury case has been appealed to the Supreme Court and before a decision on a hearing is made, it is just a waiting game.
Beyond politics, precedents and geopolitics, there are always the people. A imprisoned Swede who is on hunger strike for his right to call home.
A family who are completely exhausted, and mentally kidnapped, as they are constantly haunted by the thought that there is always something more they can do. One more phone call. One more letter. One more meeting. One more interview.
But there are things we can all do to help them be Johan’s voice.
Johan’s life in the cell is described in a statement from the family as difficult. The lights are on 24 hours a day, a simple blanket to wrap around himself and sleep on. A hotplate and a small refrigerator. Without money from outside, it is impossible to get the food he needs to avoid losing weight. By going on hunger strike, he has been allowed to call home, but now the prison has said that if he strikes again, he will never be allowed to call again.
We cannot set him free, but we can make his captivity as good as possible for him and make it easier for those working for his freedom: Getting food, medicine and supplies into a prison requires an airlift of compassion. The family has a collection for the work to free Johan Floderus, support it today.
Top picture: Johan Floderus, private photo
