Iran: release of Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah

The portrait of the academic Fariba Adelkhah, imprisoned in Iran, photographed in front of the town hall of Paris on June 5, 2020. AFP - BERTRAND GUAY

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

Arrested in Iran in June 2019, then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, the Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah was released from prison, we learned this Friday, February 10, 2023.

Advertisement

Read more

" 

," says one of Fariba Adelkhah's relatives, preferring to remain anonymous.

"

," said this person.

The academic was arrested in Iran in June 2019 and then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security.

Fariba Adelkhah is free!

Here is his photo when he got out of prison.

The Franco Iranian was arrested on June 5, 2019. https://t.co/CtL94TxR2p

— Mariam Pirzadeh (@mapirzadeh) February 10, 2023

Several dozen Westerners remain detained in Iran.

This was so far the case of seven French nationals.

The names of two of them are not known.

But Benjamin Brière was, for example, arrested in May 2020, before being sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for espionage.

As for Cécile Kohler and her companion Jacques Paris, they were arrested last May, while they were sightseeing in the country.

More recently, the identity of Franco-Irish Bernard Phelan, detained in an Iranian prison since October, was made public.

Their supporters often portray Western prisoners as innocent people used by Tehran to pressure their country.

Paris, in particular, no longer hesitates to accuse Tehran of creating “ 

”.

The Islamic Republic argued that foreigners were detained under its domestic laws, but said it was open to prisoner swaps.

It is with happiness and relief that we announce the release of our dear colleague Fariba Adelkhah, arbitrarily detained in Iran for more than 3 years.

Hostage of the local authorities, she was a scientific prisoner.

Thank you to everyone who made his release possible.

— Sciences Po (@sciencespo) February 10, 2023

The context ?

Currently under international sanctions, Iran is trying, together with the major powers, to resuscitate the 2015 international agreement on its nuclear program.

The regime in Tehran has also been confronted with major demonstrations since last September.

At the end of December, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs had assured that the mobilization of the French authorities to free their nationals remained "

".

(With

AFP

►Read again: Support for researcher Fariba Adelkhah arrested three years ago in Iran does not give up

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Iran

• France

• Justice

• Diplomacy