Five French people in total are detained in Iran, announces Catherine Colonna

Europe 1 with AFP 9:21 a.m., October 11, 2022

A total of five French people are currently being held in Iran, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna announced on public radio France Inter on Tuesday, while until now only four were officially recognized by Paris.

"I will have this afternoon the Iranian Foreign Minister to demand once again the immediate release of all our compatriots who are detained in Iran, there are currently five," said Ms. Colonna.

READ ALSO - Iran: French visitors invited to leave the country "as soon as possible"

"We must protect our community, it is in our hearts and in our actions," added the minister.

So far, France has officially had four of its nationals detained in Iran: the Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in June 2019 then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, Benjamin Brière, arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for espionage, and two trade unionists, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, arrested last May.

A "confession" video

Tehran had announced at the beginning of October the arrest of nine foreigners, including a Frenchman, in the wave of protest which is currently shaking the country since the death of Mahsa Amini.

But Paris had not confirmed the arrest of one of its nationals.

Last week, Tehran broadcast a video presented as "confessions" by Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, leading to a virulent reaction from Paris which denounced an "unworthy staging" and evoked for the first time "State hostages ".

And on Friday, the Quai d'Orsay called on French people passing through Iran to "leave the country as soon as possible given the risks of arbitrary detention to which they expose themselves".

More than twenty nationals of Western countries, mostly dual nationals, are detained or stranded in Iran, which NGOs condemn as a policy of hostage-taking to obtain concessions from foreign powers.

Sanctions against Iranian officials

In addition, Catherine Colonna indicated that the European Union had agreed on sanctions against those responsible for the repression in Iran.

“The EU yesterday agreed on the plan of the technical teams on a set of sanctions. This will be validated at ministerial level on Monday and at the European Council in the middle of next week,” said the minister.

She had spoken last week of an "asset freeze and travel ban" for those responsible for the repression.

The protest movement is not weakening in several regions of Iran despite the deadly repression of the demonstrations triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, who died after her arrest by the morality police nearly four weeks ago.

The crackdown on protests has killed at least 95 people since September 16, according to NGOs.