He was sentenced in November 2023 to five years in prison for propaganda and endangering state security, a sentence judged “unacceptable» by the Quai d’Orsay.
The Frenchman Louis Arnaud, who had been detained in Iran since September 2022, was released, announced the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron on the social network X, urging Tehran to release “without delay” the three other French people still detained in this country . “Louis Arnaud is free. He will be in France tomorrow after too long incarceration in Iran. announced the president. “I thank our Omani friends and all those who worked towards this happy outcome. This evening, I am also thinking of Cécile, Jacques and Olivier. he added, referring to the three other French people detained.
“Louis Arnaud left Evin prison at dawn on Wednesday. He saw a doctor who found that he could fly.a diplomatic source told AFP. “He is currently in the Sultanate of Oman”added this diplomatic source. “It’s a happy outcome for our compatriot”indicated the same source.
Louis Arnaud, a thirty-year-old consultant, began a world tour in July 2022 which took him to Iran, “a country that he had dreamed of visiting for a long time for the richness of its history and the welcome of its inhabitants”, said his mother Sylvie Arnaud a few months ago. He was arrested in September 2022 with other Europeans accused of participating in protests after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurd who died after her arrest by the morality police.
His traveling companions were quickly released but Louis Arnaud remained in prison before being sentenced last November to five years in prison for propaganda and endangering the security of the Iranian state. His conviction was deemed “unacceptable” by Paris. “The accusations against him, namely propaganda and undermining the security of the Iranian state, are completely unfounded”kept hammering his mother.
The three other French people still detained in Iranian jails are the couple Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, arrested in May 2022 as well as a Frenchman named Olivier whose name has not been made public. “We will obviously continue our efforts for the three French people who remain incarcerated in Iran”indicated the diplomatic source.
“State hostages”
The release of Louis Arnaud is “the result of the work that the French authorities have carried out for several months with the Iranian authorities, including the contacts of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Séjourné with his counterpart before his death”. Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi and his Minister of Foreign Affairs died on May 19 in a helicopter crash.
Last May, Paris denounced in a press release “the odious practice of the Islamic Republic of forced and public confessions, as well as the inhumane and undignified conditions of detention inflicted on our compatriots”. The Quai d’Orsay, which had described these prisoners as state hostages, had requested their immediate and unconditional release.
Two other French people, Benjamin Brière and Bernard Phelan, who also have Irish nationality, were released a little over a year ago, in May 2023, for “humanitarian reasons”. They were then very weakened and diminished by a hunger strike.
The Islamic Republic of Iran detains more than ten Western nationals and is accused by their supporters and NGOs of using them as a bargaining chip in state-to-state negotiations. This release came as France and its Western partners decided to toughen their tone against Tehran, which is also accused of destabilizing the Middle East.