Fariba Adelkhah (archives) -

IBO / SIPA

Franco-Iranian anthropologist Fariba Adelkhah, detained in Iran since June 2019, was granted an exit permit this Saturday under the control of an electronic bracelet.

“She is now with her family in Tehran.

We have not yet [given] a date for his return to prison but we hope that this temporary release will become final, ”said his lawyer, Saïd Dehghan, without providing further details.

"Under health measures and as part of a medical leave, Fariba was released from prison this Saturday, October 3, 2020 and returned to her personal home where she is under house arrest, under the control of an electronic bracelet", The researcher's support committee said in a press release.

“It doesn't change the root of the problem.

Fariba remains a scientific prisoner, under the guise of a prison sentence of five years, at the end of an unfair "trial", on the basis of inept accusations ", estimates the committee.

“We therefore continue to fight so that the innocence of our colleague is recognized and that it recovers his freedom of research and movement.

But we can now do it with a little balm in the heart, ”he adds.

One arrest in June 2019

A specialist in Shiism and post-revolutionary Iran at Sciences Po Paris, Fariba Adelkhah was arrested in early June 2019 in Tehran, as was her companion Roland Marchal, a renowned specialist in Africa who came to visit her.

The latter was released in March as part of a prisoner exchange.

But the researcher, born in Iran in 1959 and living in France since 1977, was sentenced on May 16 to five years in prison for "collusion with a view to attacking national security" and "propaganda against the political system" of the Islamic Republic.

"This condemnation is not based on any serious element or established fact and is therefore of a political nature", then reacted the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

The weakened researcher

Fariba Adelkhah's support committee, which has always denounced trumped-up accusations against this researcher known for her integrity, had denounced a judicial procedure resembling the "Kafka trial".

In a "message to the Iranian authorities", French President Emmanuel Macron ruled in early June that Fariba Adelkhah had been "arbitrarily arrested in Iran".

Deeming "unacceptable that she is still imprisoned", the French president added that "justice demands that our compatriot be immediately released".

The Iranian authorities, who do not recognize dual nationality, have always qualified as "unacceptable interference" the multiple calls for release launched by Paris.

The academic, a researcher at the International Research Center (CERI) of Sciences Po Paris, was severely weakened by a 49-day hunger strike between late December and February carried out to protest against his conditions of detention.

Her lawyer, Saïd Dehghan also indicated that she suffered from "kidney disease".

After his hunger strike, the support committee was alarmed that the academic could contract Covid-19 in his prison in Evin (in northern Tehran), Iran being the country in the Middle East. most affected by the pandemic.

World

Iran lawyer Sotoudeh begins fourth week of hunger strike

World

Iran: Paris calls for the release of researcher Fariba Adelkhah, "hostage" for a year

  • Researchers

  • Iran

  • World

  • Political science

  • Tehran