Iranian journalist says: That's why I jumped off in Sweden

It was when four civilian-dressed men came to his job with an arrest warrant that Amir Tohid Fazel knew he had to flee. It was clear that, as political editor of the conservative Iranian news agency Mowj, he had acquired powerful enemies.

- A colleague was very anxious that I should tell my family, because he knew I was not in Iran, and tell them to leave the home, he says in an interview with SVT in a secret place.

The flight was unplanned, he says, and Amir Tohid Fazel says he felt great concern about the decision. When night came he could not sleep. Once in Sweden, he decided to try to leave the Iranian delegation as late as possible, in order to avoid detection before flying on to Norway.

After Wednesday morning's breakfast, before Foreign Minister Zarif would speak at the Sipri Peace Institute, he saw his chance to go out on a smoke break, the only way to get away from the others in the group.

- It was the only chance I had that day, he says.

He describes that he ran from the hotel for his life for about 12 minutes before taking a break to change clothes, to avoid being recognized. He then threw his sim card, jumped into a taxi and asked to be taken to the police.

Iran must be an authoritarian religiously governed state with supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei at the top. But the country also has a complicated political landscape where various rival factions measure their forces in fierce competition.

Amir Tohid Fazel has worked for almost 20 years as a loyal journalist. He says he got caught up in articles he has written about Iranian public figures with possible dual citizenship. The report has even suggested that President Hassan Rohani himself is a Scottish citizen, something Rohani denies.

That reporting has brought bad blood and criticism both from regime-critical Iranian journalists like him as a propagandist, and from Iranian media who want to link him to the more reform-friendly camp.

On SVT's question about why people in Sweden should think that someone who has been a regime journalist for so long would suddenly jump off, he refers to how he is portrayed in Iranian media as an opponent of both sides.

- If you read Iranian media tomorrow, you will understand.

Amir Tohid Fazel says his family remains in Iran, but that they have not had much contact for fear of reprisals. He says at the same time that his wife has lost her job, and that his 9-year-old son is having trouble getting to school.

"I don't know what's going to happen to them," he says.