Fariba Adelkhah stranded in Iran despite her release, six other Frenchmen still detained

French-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah after her release from Tehran's Evin prison in a photo published by her support committee on February 11, 2023. © Fariba Adelkhah Support Committee / AFP

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2 min

The day after the arrival in France of journalist Olivier Dubois, hostage of jihadists in Mali for nearly two years, relatives of French detainees in Iran called not to forget these "state hostages", six of whom are imprisoned in Iran. To these must be added the case of Fariba Adelkhah: released from prison, the researcher remains stuck in the country, without her documents.

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Fariba Adelkhah was released in February from Tehran's Evin prison after more than three and a half years in detention. But the French-Iranian researcher recently learned that she would not be able to recover her identity papers, confiscated during her arrest.

This makes it impossible for him to travel at the moment, and his eventual return to France is subject to a slow administrative process to obtain new identity documents. This leaves the backdrop of a question: when will Fariba Adelkhah really be free?

Six other French nationals are still imprisoned in Iran: Benjamin Brière, Cécile Kohler, Jacques Paris, Bernard Phelane, Louis Arnaud and a sixth person, whose identity has not been made public. The France considers all of them to be "state hostages," according to the Foreign Ministry's termination.

« Six of our compatriots are still detained »

In a statement published Tuesday, March 21, the support committees of Cécile Kohler, Jacques Paris, and Fariba Adelkhah "rejoice[d] the release of Olivier Dubois", but say that it is inaccurate and even "painful" for them "to read this morning in the various media that Olivier Dubois was the "last French hostage in the world".

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna assured the National Assembly on Tuesday that the government was "fully mobilized" to release French detainees in Iran. "Six of our compatriots are still arbitrarily detained in Iran today. Let us also think of them, and know that we are fully mobilized to obtain their release," she said.

► READ ALSO: Tehran practices "hostage diplomacy" according to Jonathan Piron

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  • Iran
  • France
  • Diplomacy