The accusation of spying on Fariba Adelkhah "has been dropped" by the Iranian authorities, the lawyer for this Franco-Iranian anthropologist detained in Iran on Tuesday announced to AFP. Mr. Saïd Dehghan welcomed the drop in this count which could lead, in some cases, to the death penalty.
According to the lawyer, the prosecution dropped its charges against Fariba Adelkhah for "breach of public order". The researcher, who specializes in Shiism at the Center for International Research (CERI) at Sciences Po Paris, remains nevertheless prosecuted on two other counts, said Dehghan: "propaganda against the political system" of the Islamic Republic, and "collusion with a view to attacking national security ”.
Another researcher imprisoned
The first charge is punishable by three months to one year in prison, the second by two to five years. Fariba Adelkhah and his colleague Roland Marchal, a specialist in the Horn of Africa, also at CERI, were arrested in June. Paris continues to demand their release. Faced with these repeated requests, Tehran regularly denounces what it presents as interference in its internal affairs.
Iran does not recognize dual nationality. Arrests of foreigners in Iran, including binationals, often accused of spying, have increased since the unilateral withdrawal in 2018 of the United States from the Iranian nuclear agreement and the reinstatement of harsh American sanctions against Tehran. Roland Marchal is also prosecuted for "collusion with a view to attacking national security".
Hunger-strike
Me Dehghan expects that the final indictments of the two researchers will be transmitted in the coming days by the prosecution to the revolutionary court in Tehran. On Twitter, the Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal Support Committee welcomed the drop of the count of espionage against the researcher.
" Excellent news. Nevertheless, Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal are still detained. Iran must drop all charges "against them, the Committee wrote. According to CERI, Fariba Adelkhah and an Australian academic, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, detained with her at Evin prison in Tehran, went on an indefinite hunger strike on December 24. Dehghan told AFP on Tuesday that Fariba Adelkhah was continuing the hunger strike.
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