Iran's judiciary said a Swiss national accused of spying was found dead in prison in the eastern city of Semnan on Thursday, adding that he had taken his own life.
"This morning, a Swiss citizen committed suicide in Semnan prison," the judiciary's Mizan Online website said, adding that he had been "arrested by security agencies for espionage and his case was under investigation".
The Swiss national was held in a cell with another prisoner and asked his cellmate to bring him food from the prison cafeteria, Mizan said.
"The prisoner used the time he was left alone... and committed suicide," it said, adding that prison authorities "immediately intervened to save his life but their efforts were unsuccessful".
Mizan did not name the prisoner and gave no details of his arrest or how he took his own life.
Several other Europeans are held in custody in Iran, which has conducted multiple prisoner exchanges with Western governments in recent years, often brokered by Oman or Qatar.
French couple Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris have been jailed since May 2022 on charges of espionage, a capital offence in Iran.
In June, Iran released two Swedes, one of them a European Union diplomat, in exchange for a former official held in Sweden, in a swap brokered by Oman.
In 2023, Oman brokered the release of six European detainees in Iran, including Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who had been convicted of espionage and spent more than a year in custody.
With AFP
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