Almost three years that Benjamin Brière has been detained in Iran. While the Frenchman was “acquitted of all charges” on February 15 on appeal of his conviction for espionage, he is still imprisoned, his lawyer and his family told AFP, who denounce a “totally grotesque situation”. Locked up since the end of May 2020, he had been sentenced to eight years in prison.
After the acquittal verdict, the court ordered the next day “his immediate release” but the Frenchman, on hunger strike since January 28, “was not released by the Revolutionary Guards who keep him imprisoned” , according to his French lawyer Me Philippe Valent. “At the last moment he was blocked in extremis” and remains imprisoned in Vakilabad prison in Mashad (north-east), explained Me Valent, denouncing “incredible psychological violence” against Benjamin Brière and his family. . “We demand respect by the Iranian regime for the court decisions,” he added.
“Emotional lift”
“We are in total incomprehension”, for her part declared to AFP Blandine Brière, the sister of the prisoner, who was able to speak to him last Sunday. “He’s on an emotional elevator,” she said, explaining that the family hadn’t made the court ruling public in hopes the situation would unblock. Benjamin Brière, who always presented himself as a tourist, was arrested in May 2020 for having taken “photographs of prohibited areas” with a recreational drone in a natural park.
In total, six French people are detained in Iran. The seventh, researcher Fariba Adelkhah, was released on February 10 after three and a half years in prison but does not know whether she has recovered all her rights, including that of leaving Iran. France has been denouncing for months a “hostage diplomacy” carried out by the Iranian regime.