After twenty months of detention without trial in Iran, Benjamin Brière was tried on January 20 before an Iranian revolutionary court and was sentenced to 8 years and 8 months in prison for "espionage" and "propaganda", announced Tuesday 25 January his Iranian lawyer, Me Saïd Dehghan.
"This condemnation, which nothing can support, is unacceptable", also reacted the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Presented from the start as a tourist who was visiting a national park in northeastern Iran at the time of his arrest - for having taken "photographs of prohibited areas" with a recreational drone, in May 2020 -, the French national has been on a hunger strike for a month to protest against his conditions of detention.
Today "very weakened" by his state of health, as his French lawyer Me Philippe Valent explains to France 24, he seems to be at the center of a diplomatic balance of power between France and Iran.
Interview.
>> To read: "It's kidnapping": the distress of the relatives of Benjamin Brière, detained in Iran
France 24: how was the trial of Benjamin Brière, which you described as a "masquerade"
?
Me Philippe Valent:
we have very few details on the course of the trial of Benjamin Brière.
We know that no evidence of the prosecution was provided to him before, and he was only informed 48 hours before the hearing (Tuesday, January 18, editor's note) that he was going to be tried, but without being able to prepare for his trial. and without being able to present a structured defense as one can imagine in any legal proceeding.
From the moment that we do not provide the indictments, the reports, the evidence against you so that you can discuss them during the trial, there is an irremediable violation of the rights of the defense and therefore of a fair trial.
These are the most basic rights which are those of any person accused in a regime that has the slightest qualification of democracy.
It would seem that the procedure was relatively quick on the day of the hearing and that he was finally accused of the charges previously imagined, namely "espionage" and "propaganda" (charges which respectively earned him be sentenced to 8 years and 8 months in prison, Ed).
The trial – which took place in Mashhad, the city in which he is also imprisoned – took place before a revolutionary court, which is not a court of law as we understand it.
Does this mean that Benjamin Brière, after a year and a half of detention without trial, is now officially a political hostage
?
Benjamin Brière was not tried by a judicial body, it was a political trial before a court presided over by the Revolutionary Guards.
We are therefore making Benjamin Brière a political instrument, given the sanctions or the current needs of the Iranian regime.
It is quite obvious to consider that Benjamin Brière is only the hostage of the Iranian policy of negotiation with foreign states.
What do they want to trade it for?
That, I don't know, but it was not a clear legal process where we discussed the evidence for and against.
This type of trial is actually only useful for the Iranian negotiations.
What recourse do you envisage in this situation
: to appeal judicially and to continue to mobilize public opinion
?
We haven't appealed yet, we're going to discuss it seriously: if it's to relive a new political trial that would probably take place in the same circumstances as last Thursday's trial, we'll see if it's worth it.
In fine, the decision of this call could be only a new reflection of the Iranian policy of the moment.
We are therefore in serious expectation and we must take this decision calmly.
In the meantime, we will continue to mobilize public opinion. I believe that the French are attentive to the situation of Benjamin Brière. Having made it a political trial, his release now comes down to a form of political decision. Public opinion is the relay of the dramatic situation of this boy: in psychological distress, he has been on hunger strike for a month and drinks only water, he is very weak and alternates stays between his cell and the infirmary of the prison in which he is. His state of health is becoming concretely worrying, and it could become critical. I don't think anyone in Iran wants to take the risk of irreparable harm to their health.
The Quai d'Orsay speaks of an "unacceptable" condemnation. Will the release of Benjamin Brière ultimately only go through diplomatic channels
?
I have no news as to the diplomatic discussions which may be in progress.
I welcome the reaction (from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, editor's note) because it is important, and I finally find that the French state and government are taking the measure of the political dimension of Benjamin Brière.
And affirming it in this way is a message that the Iranian authorities should take very seriously.
We sincerely hope that reason will eventually prevail in this matter.
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