After 9 and a half months in detention, Iran freed French researcher Roland Marchal, but "only half the way" is done, according to its support committee, which stresses that the "fight" continues to obtain that of Fariba Adelkha , also a French researcher, still detained.
Paris announced this Saturday morning in a brief statement the release of Roland Marchal, expected in France in the middle of the day. African specialist, Roland Marchal, 64, was arrested at the same time as his partner, a researcher like him at the Center for International Research (CERI) at Sciences Po Paris, in June 2019 in Tehran. Fariba Adelkhah, 60, a renowned anthropologist specializing in Shiism, remains incarcerated in Evin prison in Tehran.
Exchange of prisoners
Both were charged with "collusion to endanger national security", a crime punishable by two to five years in prison. The researcher is also being prosecuted for "propaganda against the system". The accusation of espionage targeting her, punishable by the death penalty, was however dropped in January. Only Fariba Adelkhah appeared on March 3 at the start of their trial, immediately postponed to an unspecified date.
Friday, Persian New Year's Day, Iran announced an exchange of detainees between Paris and Tehran. The academic was released on an exchange with an Iranian detained in France whose extradition the United States was demanding, accusing him of having attempted to bring into Iran technological equipment that could be used for military purposes. The French presidency does not mention the exchange of prisoners.
"Our joy will only be complete when Fariba is also with us"
"We welcome with relief the arrival of Roland Marchal in Paris after almost nine months of arbitrary detention in very harsh conditions," said Jean-François Bayart, professor at IHEID (Institute for Advanced International Studies and Development) from Geneva and member of the support committee of the two researchers.
“But only half the way has been covered. Remains in just as arbitrary detention Fariba Adelkhah, of both Iranian and French nationality and therefore from the point of view of French law as a full citizen of the French Republic ”, he added. Iran does not recognize dual nationality.
"We are with her wholeheartedly and she must know that for us the fight continues and that the French Republic remains committed to obtain this liberation no less justified than that of Roland Marchal", continued Jean-François Bayart. "Our joy will not be complete until Fariba is also with us."
Hunger-strike
The support committee thanked French diplomats for the "determination with which it works for the liberation of our two compatriots". "I think I can say that Fariba is certainly immensely relieved to know that Roland has returned among his own, among his colleagues and in his country," said Jean-François Bayart.
"It was her most ardent wish," he insisted, recalling that she went on a 49-day hunger strike to demand their release and "refused for more than a month to return to her cell." , camping in the corridors of Evin prison "to be able to see and" comfort "him, which has always been refused to them.
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