He has been languishing since the fall in Evin prison in Tehran.
Among the seven French people detained in Iran is Louis Arnaud, 35, arrested on September 28 while visiting the country, his parents revealed on Thursday, stressing that he is "neither a plotter, nor a spy, nor a criminal ".
Described as "a great traveler", the young consultant in the banking sector "is a simple citizen of the world, who wishes to travel it to better know and understand it", write Jean-Michel and Sylvie Arnaud in a press release.
They say that he had resumed travel after the Covid-19 pandemic, on July 19, 2022, "in order to go around the world".
“Leaving Paris, he crossed Italy, Greece, Turkey, Georgia and Armenia to arrive in Iran on September 2, 2022”, before being the subject of “an arbitrary arrest on September 28 in Tehran,” they detailed.
Louis Arnaud has been detained since that date in Evin prison.
His parents say they are convinced that their son Louis “did not take part in any demonstration, nor expressed ideas hostile to Iran, its government or Islam” which could have motivated an arrest.
They also deplore having had only “two brief telephone conversations” in October.
And their son was only able to receive one visit from the French ambassador in Tehran on December 11.
“We have therefore been without news for almost seven weeks”, they underline.
They are concerned about his “very harsh and (the) lack of communication” conditions of detention, fearing “very heavy physical and psychological repercussions”.
Discretion “doesn’t work”
Jean-Michel and Sylvie Arnaud have decided to make their son's name public to "alert and mobilize the public more widely on the situation" of the French hostages, believing that the policy of silence and discretion "does not work".
So they will participate on Saturday in the peaceful rally organized by the support committees of Fariba Adelkhah, Benjamin Brière and Cécile Kohler, on the forecourt of Human Rights in Paris.
Among the other detainees is the Franco-Irish Bernard Phelan who suspended a hunger strike on Friday and for whose life the French Foreign Ministry said it was "extremely worried".
The seven French nationals are among dozens of Westerners detained in Iran.
Their supporters describe them as innocent people used by the Revolutionary Guards as leverage.
Iran and major Western powers are trying to resuscitate a 2015 international agreement that aims to ensure the civilian character of Iran's nuclear program.
Tehran is accused, despite its denials, of seeking to acquire atomic weapons.
