Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in Iran in 2019 for criminal offenses security nationally, then released last February but prevented from leaving the territory, is back in France, announced Wednesday at the Paris Institute of Political Studies. “Since Tuesday, Fariba Adelkhah has finally returned to France. She was welcomed on her arrival at the airport by Béatrice Hibou, president of her support committee, and Mathias Vicherat, director of Sciences Po ” said a statement from the school. “After four and a half years of deprivation of liberty, here I am back in France,” declared the academic in a press release from his support committee, thanking “from the bottom of my heart French diplomacy” and all those who contributed to its release. “Now all this is behind me. What remains are all these gestures of friendship and commitment, these mobilizations of known and unknown people (…). And obviously, this that the support committee was able to do beyond my case, and for more than 4 years, out of loyalty to the principle of scientific freedom.” A specialist in Shiism and post-revolutionary Iran at Sciences Po, Ms. Adelkhah was arrested in 2019 then sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison for endangering national security, which her relatives have always fiercely denied. She was released in February but was not authorized to leave the country. Four French people remain detained in Iran: Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, arrested on May 7, 2022, “when of a tourist stay” according to their relatives, Louis Arnaud, a 36-year-old traveler, as well as another Frenchman whose identity has never been made public. Several dozen Westerners are detained by the Islamic Republic, described by their supporters as innocent individuals used as negotiating levers. Iran, under international sanctions, and the major powers are trying to resurrect an international agreement concluded in 2015 which guarantees the civilian nature of Tehran's nuclear program, accused, despite its denials, of seeking to acquire atomic weapons. All rights of reproduction and representation reserved. © (2023) Agence France-Presse
Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, held in Iran since 2019, returns to France
ByTeilor Stone
Oct 18, 2023
By Teilor Stone
Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116