After the execution of an Iranian-British, should we worry about the 7 French prisoners?


Thibaud Hue

Paris condemns in the strongest terms the execution this Saturday of an Iranian-British man by Tehran for espionage. London has placed Iran’s attorney general under sanctions after an act deemed barbaric. But beyond this diplomatic standoff, there is also the question of the fate of other foreign nationals, and in particular of the seven French people detained in Iranian prisons.

“A barbaric act”. This is the qualifier used by London this Saturday after the execution of one of its nationals accused of espionage. Alireza Akbari, was executed by hanging in Iran, announced the agency of the Iranian Judicial Authority Mizan Online. According to this agency, the 61-year-old Iranian-Briton had been convicted of “corruption on Earth and of undermining the internal and external security of the country for having transmitted information” to the United Kingdom. A “barbaric act” which “will not go unanswered,” reacted British Foreign Minister James Cleverly.

Pressure on the Élysée and the Quai d’Orsay

London will “summon the Iranian charge d’affaires to tell him of our disgust,” he added. In response, Tehran summoned the UK ambassador. But after this diplomatic escalation, what about other foreign nationals? In the case of the seven French prisoners, Frédéric Ancel, doctor in geopolitics and lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, wants to be reassuring all the same.

“I do not think that the French nationals taken hostage are to suffer death because France is despite everything a power that counts. Moreover, France has a military ally in the region which is the United Arab Emirates, obviously hostile to Iran,” he begins by explaining. “On the other hand, I fear that Iran will continue to try to exert pressure on the Élysée and the Quai d’Orsay by holding our hostages and perhaps even literally capturing other would-be – and I mean would-be – spies”, warns the specialist.



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