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In the press, this morning, the revelation of the identities of two Australians currently detained in Iran, after their arrest, ten weeks ago, near Tehran.
According to The Guardian , their identities have been leaked to social networks, despite diplomatic efforts to avoid media coverage. Mark Firkin and Jolie King, also a British citizen, left in 2017 for a trip around the world, which eventually took them to Iran. This is where the couple was arrested for piloting a drone, before appearing in court. The Guardian also mentions the arrest, still in Iran, of another Australian woman, apparently unrelated to that of the couple - an academic, also of Australian-British nationality, whose identity is unknown, and who would have been placed in solitary confinement in Evin Prison after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for unidentified reasons. The Australia , which accuses Iran of "hostage-taking," notes that these arrests occur after Prime Minister Scott Morrison's decision to participate in the mission to protect the ships in the Strait of Hormuz, after the series of this summer attacks against several tankers, which its critics attribute to Iran. The Australian newspaper also mentions the arrest, in December 2018, of another academic of Australian and Iranian nationality, this time. Suspected of espionage, Meymanat Hosseini-Chavoshi was finally placed on probation, with no possibility of leaving Iran.
In addition to these four nationals, several foreigners, mostly binational, are currently imprisoned in Iran. The Times accuses Tehran of using these arrests as a means of pressure, in a context where its relations with Western countries have deteriorated, after the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement. According to the British newspaper, these arrests would have the purpose of forcing Westerners to "keep afloat" what is left of the nuclear deal, to extract concessions from them.
In Tunisia, the presidential election takes place in three days. On this occasion, the French daily Libération chose to go to "Tunisia from the inside", this Tunisia "which has always felt neglected by the top of the state." The special correspondent of the newspaper visited the governorate of Siliana, south-west of Tunis, a region presented as "the breadbasket of Tunisia but also its black hole", which "does not benefit from the wealth of coastal cities, tourist beaches, or even the glorious revolutionary history of Sidi Bouzid "- this is where an unprecedented experiment is conducted in the city of Al-Aroussa, whose municipal council counts on the times elected representatives of the Popular Front, the radical left, and of Ennahdha, the Islamist party. Once is not customary, these elected "work together to establish a street lighting, garbage collection and a network of functional purification" - a work described as "exploit" by Libé, but that is still insufficient for many people, some of whom recognize that "the town hall has done things. But (that before, anyway), there was nothing. "They had to put up to four light bulbs, accuses one of them, houses do not have running water." Are the 26 candidates in the running aware of this reality?, Asks Libération . His prognosis is rather pessimistic: "Not sure that, for the candidates for the post of Head of State, the road leading to Carthage, the seat of the presidency, passes by the roads of Al-Aroussa".
Her way to her was through forgiveness. Before leaving us, I propose the exceptional story of Nöella Rouget, told by Le Monde . This French resistance fervent Catholic, hostile to the death penalty, soon centenary, helped save the death of the former French employee of the Gestapo who had precipitated his deportation to Ravensbrück, during the Second World War. "In many ways, says Le Monde, Noella Rouget is a survivor. Age, war, camps, but also hate. What to remember from this extraordinary existence? Le Monde tells the story of the organized confrontation, in 1943, between Noëlla Rouget and her fiancé, Adrien Tingeot, her fiancé, who is also resistant. The old lady says she failed to faint when she saw him appear. "He had been tortured (by the Gestapo). He was unrecognizable. This is the last time Noëlla will see her fiancé, shot a few weeks later. Before being taken to the post, he sends her a farewell note in which is written "with a hand where no trembling can be guessed": "Since I am no more, you must forget me, that you bright. Our great love is over, you must heal your wound, which you still love. Do not make a marriage of reason, love your husband, be happy, very happy. Do it for me".
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