Iran: a rally in support of French detainees organized on January 28 in Paris

They want to warn about "the inhuman conditions of detention inflicted on them".

The support committees and relatives of several French people are organizing a rally on January 28 at the Trocadéro in Paris.

“Currently, seven French people are detained in Iran for fallacious reasons”, deplore these committees in a press release released Monday by relatives of Fariba Adelkhah, Benjamin Brière, Cécile Kohler and Bernard Phelan.

"Accused of espionage by the Islamic Republic of Iran, they are deprived of the most basic rights, starting with the right to a judicial investigation and a trial worthy of these names", they add.

They point out that French nationals have been deprived of contact with their relatives "for months and placed in solitary confinement for some", are worried about their physical and psychological health and demand "urgently their release and repatriation".

The rally, which is intended to be “symbolic and peaceful”, will therefore take place this January 28 at 2 p.m., on the forecourt of Human Rights in Paris.

They accuse Tehran of making them "state hostages"

Dozens of Westerners are being held in Iran, described by their supporters as innocents used by the Revolutionary Guards as leverage, as Iran and major powers try to resuscitate an international agreement struck in 2015 that guarantees civilian character Tehran's nuclear program, accused, despite its denials, of seeking to acquire atomic weapons.

Countries like France no longer hesitate to accuse Tehran of making them “hostages of the state”.

Tehran has argued that all foreigners are detained under Iran's domestic laws and said it is open to prisoner swaps.

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Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah was arrested in June 2019 and then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security.

Benjamin Brière was arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for espionage.

Cécile Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, were arrested in May while sightseeing in Iran.

A “total” mobilization of the French authorities

More recently, the identity of Franco-Irish Bernard Phelan, detained in an Iranian prison since October, has been made public, as the Iranian regime has faced major protests since the September 16 death of Mahsa. Amini, detained for violating the Iranian dress code.

The names of the other two imprisoned French nationals are not known.

At the end of December, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs had assured that the mobilization of the French authorities to free the seven nationals remained "total".

Tehran announced on Saturday the execution by hanging of an Iranian-British, former senior Iranian defense official, sentenced to death for spying for the British intelligence services, provoking the anger and "disgust" of London.