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France urges Iran to release 7 French citizens. PHOTO/Reuters
TEHERAN – French has called for the “immediate release” of seven of its nationals being held in Iran . France also denounced the situation as “unjustifiable and unacceptable”.
“The French hostages in Iran include 35-year-old Louis Arnaud,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said, as quoted by AP, Thursday (26/1/2023).
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“Arnaud, whose name has just been announced, was arrested on September 28 while he was traveling in Iran for tourist reasons,” Legendre continued.
“He is being held in “very difficult conditions” in Tehran’s Evin prison, where the French ambassador to Iran was able to meet him on December 11,” he added.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Wednesday discussed the matter in a telephone call with her Iranian counterpart Hossein Hossein Amirabdollahian, the French Foreign Ministry said.
“We are very worried about Bernard Phelan given his state of health,” said Legendre. The Foreign Ministry also said that the French Irish national, who has been detained in Iran since October, needed “appropriate medical care which was not provided” in prison.
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Iran has detained scores of foreigners and dual nationals over the years, accusing them of espionage or other violations of state security and convicting them after secret trials in which rights groups say they were denied due process.
The family and committee of supporters of Arnaud and other French imprisoned in Iran, including Fariba Adelkhah, Benjamin Briere and Cecile Kohler, called for a meeting on Saturday in Paris.
A separate event was organized in Paris that day in support of Belgian national Olivier Vandecasteele by Doctors Without Borders.
The aid worker, who worked for nongovernmental organizations for years, was arrested in Tehran in February last year. Doctors Without Borders said the conditions of his detention put his life in danger.
(esn)
