Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, held in Iran since 2019, returns to France

Franco Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah held in Iran since 2019 returns

After four years of captivity in Iran, researcher Fariba Adelkhah was able to return to France. It is its support committee which announces it this Wednesday, October 18 afternoon. The anthropologist was arrested for espionage by the Revolutionary Guards in 2019.

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Now all this is behind me...”, writes Fariba Adelkhah in a letter to her supporters. The researcher was released from her Iranian prison last February after more than three and a half years of detention. But she was unable to recover her identity papers, which were confiscated during her arrest. She therefore took eight more months to return to France.

The researcher was arrested with her companion in June 2019. Roland Marchal was released in 2020 during a prisoner exchange.

Read alsoRoland Marchal recounts the “ordeal” of his nine months of detention in Iran

Fariba Adelkhah had a different fate due to her Iranian nationality. As a reminder, the Islamic Republic does not recognize dual nationals. His incarceration is marked by hunger strike in 2019then by a release under electronic bracelet in September 2020before being locked up again in Evin prison, in Tehran.

Today, the anthropologist thanks French diplomacy, his lawyer and his support committee in a press release.

There remain four other French people detained in Iran.

France “rejoices” at his return to France

France ” welcomes » of the return to France, but “ reiterates its deep concern » concerning the four other French people still detained in the country, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It is a great relief for his family and all his loved ones. “, the ministry said in a press release on Wednesday. But France “requests the immediate release of all its nationals” still imprisoned by the Islamic Republic.

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