France calls for the immediate release of the recent detainees, along with five others previously arrested.
Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said two more French nationals had been detained in Iran, bringing the number to seven in the Middle Eastern country that has been plagued by weeks of protests. He called for his immediate release and access to the consulate. protection.
“We are concerned about the other two compatriots and the final verification shows that they are also in custody,” Colonna told the daily Le Parisien on Saturday.
“It is more important than ever to remind Iran of its international obligations. If the purpose is to intimidate, it will not work,” she said.
“Our Iranian counterparts, with whom I had long and difficult conversations, have promised to respect this right of access.
The news comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron met with four prominent Iranian women’s activists at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
President Macron said last month that France “supports” Iranian protesters and expressed “admiration” for women and young people demonstrating in the country.
Iran’s foreign ministry said his comments were “nosy” and helped encourage “violent people and lawbreakers”.
Massive protests have been taking place in Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini in moral police custody in mid-September. A 22-year-old woman was detained for not wearing the hijab properly. Tehran has blamed the US and Israel for one of the biggest protests since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
French detainee
The identities of the two newly detained were not immediately clear.
Others detained include Fariba Adelkar, a French-Iranian researcher who was arrested in June 2019 and later sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security. However, her family strongly denies the allegations.
Another, Benjamin Briere, was arrested in May 2020 and subsequently sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison on espionage charges, which he refused.
French teachers’ union official Cecil Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, were also detained in May of this year and accused of trying to stir up labor unrest during a teachers’ strike.
There are also “Frenchmen who were passing through,” France said.
The French government last month advised citizens visiting Iran to “leave the country as soon as possible”.
protest and repression
Protests over Amini’s death have prompted the EU to impose sanctions on Iran, after the US, Canada and the UK.
A new round of EU sanctions on human rights will be approved at a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday, two diplomats told Reuters.
The sanctions will see 31 designations of human rights violations targeting individuals and entities covering property bans and travel freezes, they said.
France will also propose a new designation for those who sell drones to Iran and impose sanctions on those involved in exporting electronic components for drones, one of the diplomats said.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s judiciary has charged 11 people with the killing of a Basij security force member during the weeks-long unrest, state media reported.
News agency IRNA said some of the 10 men and one woman could face the death penalty for crimes that led to the death of members of the pro-government Basij volunteer militia on November 3. He said he had been charged with “corruption on the ground”. Karaj near Tehran.
Meanwhile, an Iranian free speech activist, who is in “critical condition” on hunger strike, is in jail and will start refusing water after being denied medical leave, his brother said Saturday. rice field.
Hossein Ronagi, 37, was arrested days after speaking out against a crackdown on protests that have resulted in hundreds of arrests and the death of dozens. However, official casualty figures are not available.
“Hossein called from prison to say he had had a few seizures recently,” his brother Hassan wrote on Twitter.
