PARIS: French citizen Benjamin Briere is still in an Iranian jail despite his recent acquittal by an appeals court, his lawyer said Thursday.
Briere was detained in May 2020, and later sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage.
He is one of several foreigners who campaigners say Iran has jailed in a strategy of hostage-taking to extract concessions from the West.
Briere’s France-based lawyer, Philippe Valent, said in a statement sent to AFP that an Iranian appeals court had cleared his client of all charges and ordered his release on Feb. 15.
But Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the branch of the security forces entrusted with the preservation of the regime, “are keeping him imprisoned despite this declaration of innocence,” he said.
“His release was prevented at the last moment,” he told AFP.
The French foreign ministry, when contacted, said it was “concerned about the situation of Mr.Briere,” adding that “France is calling for the immediate release of all French nationals.”
Held in the prison of Vakilabad in the eastern city of Mashhad, Briere is continuing a hunger strike which he started a month ago, and is “exhausted physically and mentally,” Valent said.
Valent, who had previously described the espionage charges against his client as “fiction,” said Thursday their “arbitrary nature” was “blatantly obvious.”
A copy of the appeals court judgment he showed AFP stated that Briere “was not present in the forbidden and sensitive places of the country and did not take any pictures or videos” of those places.
He was “only a foreign tourist” whose “personal items and equipment were not used for espionage,” it said.
“There is not sufficient evidence to establish a crime, and the verdict is issued for the acquittal of Mr. Benjamin Briere,” it read.
Valent said Briere’s family was demanding his immediate release.
“This situation is completely incomprehensible,” Blandine Briere, his sister, told AFP.
She said the family had decided not to report the appeals court’s verdict earlier in the hope that the situation might be resolved quietly.
Another detainee in Iran, 64-year-old Franco-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan held since October 1, in January suspended a hunger strike that included refusing water, at the request of his family, who feared for his life.
Phelan, a Paris-based travel consultant, was arrested while traveling and is being held in Mashhad.
Iran accuses him of anti-government propaganda, a charge he has denied.
Six French nationals are currently held in Iran.
The French foreign ministry has repeatedly condemned Iran for what it calls “hostage diplomacy.”
Overall, Iran is holding at least 17 Western nationals, most of whom have dual nationality. They are described by their supporters as innocents used by Tehran as levers for negotiation.
Iran is one of the world’s most sanctioned countries, with Western powers over the past four decades using a punishing array of measures in a bid to push change.
France on Thursday called developments in Iran’s nuclear program “very concerning” after the UN nuclear watchdog reported finding uranium particles enriched just under the 90 percent needed for an atomic bomb.
Frenchman still in Iran prison despite acquittal: lawyer
https://arab.news/baykk
Frenchman still in Iran prison despite acquittal: lawyer
- Iranian appeals court had cleared his client of all charges and ordered his release on February 15
UN peacekeepers say Israeli forces fired on them in southern Lebanon
- “Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF soldiers in a Merkava tank,” UNIFIL said
- It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory
BEIRUT: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Wednesday that Israeli forces fired on its peacekeepers a day earlier in the country’s south, urging Israel’s army to “cease aggressive behavior.”
It is the latest such incident reported by the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon and has been working with Lebanon’s army to support a year-old truce between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
“Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF (Israeli army) soldiers in a Merkava tank,” a UNIFIL statement said, referring to the de facto border.
“One ten-round burst of machine-gun fire was fired above the convoy, and four further ten-round bursts were fired nearby,” the statement said.
It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory at the time of the incident and that the Israeli military had been informed of the location and timing of the peacekeeping patrol in advance.
“Peacekeepers asked the IDF to stop firing through UNIFIL’s liaison channels... Fortunately, no one was injured,” it said.
Last month UNIFIL said Israeli soldiers shot at its troops in the south, while Israel’s military said it mistook blue helmets for “suspects” and fired warning shots.
In October, UNIFIL said one of its members was wounded by an Israeli grenade dropped near a UN position in the country’s south, the third incident of its kind in just over a month.
“Attacks on or near peacekeepers are serious violations of (UN) Security Council Resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said on Wednesday, referring to the 2006 resolution that formed the basis of the November 2024 truce.
“We call on the IDF to cease aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers working to rebuild stability along the Blue Line,” the peacekeepers said.
Israel carries out regular attacks on Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting sites and operatives belonging to Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming.
It has also kept troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
On Saturday, a UN Security Council delegation visiting Lebanon urged all parties to uphold the ceasefire.
It emphasized that the “safety of peacekeepers must be respected and that they must never be targeted,” after gunmen on mopeds attacked UNIFIL personnel last week.
