French relations e Iran heat up. France asked its citizens in Iran to leave the country immediately.
Reported AFPon Saturday (8/10/2022), the notice was published that mentions the risk of arbitrary arrest of foreign citizens on Iranian territory.
“All French visitors, including dual citizens, run a high risk of arrest, arbitrary detention and unfair trial,” reads a notice released by the French Foreign Ministry.
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“This risk also threatens people who do simple sightseeing,” the statement added.
The French Foreign Ministry also warned that “in the event of arrest or detention, respect for fundamental rights and individual safety is not guaranteed in Iran”.
The announcement came the day after Iranian state television aired what it described as the “confessions” of two French citizens, five months after both were arrested in the country.
The two French citizens have been identified as Cecile Kohler, an official from the French teachers’ union, and Jacques Paris, Kohler’s partner. The two have been detained in Iran since May 7 on suspicion of fomenting trade union unrest during a teachers’ strike earlier this year.
On 11 May the Iranian authorities announced the arrest of two European citizens who, according to them, had “entered the country with the aim of inciting chaos and destabilizing society”.
In addition to Kohler and Paris, two other French citizens are also detained in Iran. The two were identified as Fariba Adelkhah, a Franco-Iranian double researcher who was arrested in June 2019 and Benjamin Briere who was arrested in May 2020.
Adelkhah was reportedly sentenced to five years in prison on charges of undermining national security. The allegation was denied by his family. Meanwhile, Briere was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison on charges of espionage, which he too denies.
The two are among more than 20 Westerners, mostly dual citizens, who have been detained or barred from leaving Iran.
Human rights groups accuse Tehran of practicing a kind of hostage diplomacy with detained foreigners, using them as a tool for negotiating with the outside world. Iran has denied the allegations.
“The capacity of the French embassy in Tehran to provide consular protection to citizens arrested or detained in Iran is extremely limited,” the French Foreign Ministry warned.
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