The 62-year-old Franco-Iranian researcher was imprisoned again while she had been under house arrest since October 2020.
An Iranian judicial official said on Sunday that the Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah had been reincarcerated again because she had not respected the rules of her house arrest. “Unfortunately, Ms Adelkhah deliberately broke the boundaries set out dozens of times during her house arrest and as a result, she was sent back to prison”said deputy head of the judiciary, Kazem Gharibabadi, quoted by Mizan, the Iranian justice information agency.
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Fariba Adelkhah, 62, was imprisoned again despite being under house arrest since October 2020. She was arrested in June 2019 and then sentenced in May 2020 to five years in prison for undermining national security, which that his supporters have always denied. Kazem Gharibabadi regretted that the researcher ignored “repeated warnings from judicial authorities”.
An “arbitrary” decision
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called the Iranian authorities’ decision “totally arbitrary» asserting that « the whole of France » was «mobilized for his release. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs had warned the day before that his reincarceration “could only have negative consequences” on bilateral relations and “reduce confidence” between the two countries.
Kazem Gharibabadi deemed these statements as “baseless”, denouncing the interference of foreign countries in the Iranian judicial system. “Ms. Adelkhah is a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran and we strongly condemn the intervention of other countries in the judicial process,” he indicated.
Iran does not recognize dual nationality and treats those arrested as Iranian citizens. “It is very regrettable that the French authorities (…) despite their knowledge of Ms. Adelkhah’s violations, report unfounded information which is unacceptable”, added Kazem Gharibabadi.