Benjamin Brière, 36, is held in the country since May 2020. He is accused of espionage after taking “photographs of prohibited zones” using a drone, explained His lawyer.
Le Monde with AFP
A Frenchman, Benjamin Brière, has been detained in Iran for more than a year and a half for “espionage”. He started a hunger strike to protest against his conditions of detention, announced his family, Monday, December 27th.
“Benjamin started the hunger strike on December 25 because he did not have the right to call us for Christmas celebrations, but also to denounce the abuses he has suffered for twenty months” , said his sister at the France-Presse agency (AFP).
m. Brière, 36, was arrested in May 2020 for taking “photographs of prohibited zones” with a leisure drone in an Iranian natural park, according to his lawyer. The French has always been a tourist, dismantling all the accusations that weigh on him.
judged for “espionage” and “propaganda”
Benjamin Brière is detained in Valikabad Prison in Mashhad in northeastern Iran. “He does not see any evolution in his situation,” still lamented his sister. According to her, he was arrested while he crossed Iran in tourist, on the occasion of a long travel in Van arched in 2018.
In May, his Iranian lawyer said that Mr. Brière would be judged for “espionage” and “propaganda” against the political system of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Espionage is liable to the death penalty in this country.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ruled “incomprehensible” these charges. “It is taken hostage for no reason. It is completely illegal, we do not know. Benjamin needs more French diplomacy,” added the sister of French.
Westerly Westermant without Iranian passport
Iran retains more than a dozen Western passport holders, for most binationals, which NGOs condemn as a hostage-taking policy to obtain concessions from foreign powers. In recent years, the Islamic Republic has indeed carried out several detainees with foreign countries. Mr. Brière is the only Western known in Iran not to have an Iranian passport.
The Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah is owned since June 2019 and was sentenced in May 2020 to five years in prison for national security. She has been at home judgments since October 2020. His companion, Roland Marchal, also a researcher, had been detained with her before being released in March 2020, after Paris had released the Iranian Engineer Jalal Rohollahnejad, whose United States demanded the United States. extradition for violation of American sanctions against Iran.