“Unacceptable”. Paris does not accept the sentencing of Frenchman Louis Arnaud by Iranian courts to five years in prison. “This conviction, which there is nothing to support, and the absence of any access to a lawyer, is unacceptable,” declared Anne-Claire Legendre during a press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, calling for “his immediate release, as well as that of all French people arbitrarily detained in Iran.”
Louis Arnaud, detained in Iran since September 2022, was sentenced “after several hearings in court without the presence of his lawyers”, his mother, Sylvie Arnaud, announced earlier on Wednesday. “The accusations made against him, namely propaganda and undermining the security of the Iranian state, are completely unfounded,” she argued in a press release.
An “attack on human rights”
“Louis had undertaken his journey with the aim of discovering the cultural diversity of the world, stopping in Iran, a country he had dreamed of visiting for a long time for the richness of its history and the welcome of its inhabitants,” said his mother in the press release.
“This conviction is an attack on human rights and individual freedoms. She locks up an innocent person for no reason. It arbitrarily sanctions a lover of culture, history and the discovery of new countries,” she added. “He always stayed away from the social movements that were just beginning. At no time did he act with political intentions or carelessness.”
Three other French people detained in Iran
Besides Louis Arnaud, three other French people are detained in Iran and are considered by France as “state hostages”: Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, and another whose identity has never been made public. On Monday, Noémie Kohler, sister of Cécile, affirmed that the latter was “exhausted” and “desperate”, adding that she did not understand “why she is imprisoned”. Iranian justice announced in September that the investigation had been completed, paving the way for a possible trial, the date of which is not known.
Another Frenchman, Benjamin Brière, and a Franco-Irish national, Bernard Phelan, were released in May for “humanitarian reasons”. Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in 2019 for endangering national security, then released last February but without authorization to leave Iranian territory, returned to France in October.