Two more French citizens have been arrested in Iran, bringing to seven the number of people from France held in the Middle Eastern country wracked by weeks of protests, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said, as she called for their immediate release and consular access. PROTECTION. “We are worried about two more of our compatriots and the latest verifications show that they have also been detained,” Colonna told the daily Le Parisien on Saturday. “It is more important than ever to remind Iran of its international obligations. If his aim is extortion, then it cannot work,” he said. “My Iranian counterpart, with whom I had a long difficult conversation, is committed to respecting this right of access. I’m waiting for it to happen.” The news came a day after French President Emmanuel Macron met four prominent Iranian activists at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Macron last month said France “stands by” the protesters in Iran and expressed his “admiration” for the women and young people protesting in the country. Iran’s foreign ministry said his comments were “intrusive” and served to encourage “violent people and lawbreakers”. Iran has witnessed major protests since mid-September, when Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police. The 22-year-old was arrested for not wearing a hijab properly. Tehran has blamed the United States and Israel for one of the biggest protests since Iran’s 1979 revolution.
French prisoners
The identities of the two new detainees were not immediately clear. The other detainees include French-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, who was arrested in June 2019 and later sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, allegations her family strongly denied. Another, Benjamin Briere, was arrested in May 2020 and later sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for espionage, charges he has denied. French teachers’ union official Cécile Kohler and her partner Jacques Parry were also arrested in May this year, accused of trying to cause labor unrest during teachers’ strikes. There is also a “Frenchman who was passing through Tehran,” France said. The French government last month advised its citizens visiting Iran to “leave the country as soon as possible”.
Protests and crackdowns
Protests against Amini’s death prompted the EU to follow the US, Canada and the UK in imposing sanctions on Iran. A new round of EU human rights sanctions will be approved at a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday, two diplomats told Reuters. The sanctions will include 31 designations for human rights violations targeting individuals and entities covering asset bans and travel freezes, they said. France has also proposed new designations for those selling drones to Iran and to impose sanctions on people involved in the export of electronic components for drones, one of the diplomats said. Also on Saturday, Iran’s judiciary charged 11 people with the killing of a member of the Basij security force during weeks of unrest, state media reported. The IRNA news agency reported that some of the 10 men and one woman were charged with “corruption in the land”, which is punishable by death, for crimes that led to the death of a member of the pro-government Basij volunteer militia on November 3 in Karaj near Tehran. Meanwhile, a jailed Iranian freedom of speech activist who is on hunger strike and “in critical condition” will start refusing water after being denied medical clearance, his brother said on Saturday. Hossein Ronaghi, 37, was arrested days after he spoke out against a crackdown on protests that saw hundreds arrested and dozens killed. However, there are no official figures on casualties. “Hossein said in a call from prison that he recently had multiple seizures,” his brother Hassan tweeted.
