Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in Iran in June 2019 and then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, has been released from prison, AFP learned from those around her.
"
She is free but we don't know anything about her status
," said one of her relatives on condition of anonymity.
Dozens of Westerners are detained in Iran, described by their supporters as innocent people used by Tehran as negotiating leverage.
“State hostages”
Iran, under international sanctions, and the major powers are trying to revive an international agreement concluded in 2015 which guarantees the civilian nature of Tehran's nuclear program, accused, despite its denials, of seeking to acquire atomic weapons.
Countries like France, seven of whose nationals were previously detained in Iran, no longer hesitate to accuse Tehran of making them “
state hostages
”.
Tehran has argued that all foreigners are detained under Iran's domestic laws and said it is open to prisoner swaps.
In addition to Fariba Adelkhah, Frenchman Benjamin Brière was arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for espionage.
Cécile Kohler and her companion Jacques Paris were arrested in May while they were sightseeing in Iran.
More recently, the identity of Franco-Irish Bernard Phelan, detained in an Iranian prison since October, was made public.
Read alsoDemonstrations in Iran: “The death of Mahsa Amini woke up Iranian men”
The Iranian regime has faced major protests since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, detained for violating the 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
".
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