The Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, sentenced to five years in prison but under house arrest, was imprisoned again in Tehran.
“Stupor and indignation”. On Wednesday, Fariba Adelkhah’s support committee announced the reincarceration of the Franco-Iranian researcher, under house arrest since October 2020, five months after her sentence to five years in prison for “attacks on national security”. His supporters denounced the “cynical” actions of the Iranian regime which, they denounce, use this affair “according to external or internal ends which remain opaque”, in the midst of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear power. “As the Covid pandemic continues in full swing, the Iranian government is deliberately endangering the health and even the life of Fariba Adelkhah – the death in custody of poet and director Baktash Abti last Saturday having demonstrated his incapacity or his unwilling to guarantee the safety of its detainees”, denounces the support committee of the anthropologist.
To read :Iran, who is afraid of Fariba Adelkhah?
“The decision to reincarcerate him, which we condemn, can only have negative consequences on the relationship between France and Iran and reduce trust between our two countries,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Last Friday, Jean-Yves Le Drian was however optimistic about the case of the researcher arrested in June 2019, believing that the negotiations were taking a “rather positive path”. “Discussions are underway but from our point of view, they are slow, too slow,” he denounced on Tuesday. This delay “compromises the possibility of finding a solution respectful of everyone’s interests within a realistic timetable”.
In June 2019, Fariba Adelkhah was arrested along with her companion, researcher Roland Marchal. The latter was released in March 2020 in exchange for the release of Iranian engineer Jallal Rohollahejad – whose extradition the United States was seeking for violating American sanctions on Iran.
A Frenchman on hunger strike in an Iranian prison
Iran detains another French national – who, unlike Fariba Adelkhah, does not have Iranian nationality -: Benjamin Brière, a 36-year-old tourist, has been imprisoned since his arrest in May 2020 in a national park in the northeast. from Iran. “Today he is taken hostage by the Iranian authorities. He is being held illegally, Iranian justice has still not decided which court will try him, 20 months after his arrest, denounced his sister Blandine Brière. The Iranians know that Benjamin did nothing. It is a currency of exchange.” The 30-year-old began a hunger strike in Machhad prison at Christmas. “He is quite determined in his hunger strike, even if it is starting to be very difficult for him. He needs to protest from where he is and act as he can,” she told us.
He was indicted for “espionage” and “propaganda against the system” but has not been heard by a judge for 20 months.
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