On Wednesday, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence had announced the arrest of two “European teachers”, without specifying their nationality, accused of having sought to “destabilize” the country. The Quai d’Orsay denounced Thursday “a baseless arrest”.
Le Monde with reuters
Two French people were arrested in Iran, confirmed Thursday, May 12, the Quai d’Orsay, which denounces “a baseless arrest” and requires their “immediate liberation”. A union official of National Education had previously declared that a Frenchwoman and her husband who went on vacation in Iran had become unreachable when they had to return to France at the start of the week.
The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence did not specify the nationality of the two “European teachers” who were arrested for having, according to a press release quoted Wednesday by official Iranian press agencies, sought to “provoke chaos and disorder social in order to destabilize “Iran.
The French ambassador to Tehran strives to obtain consular access to these two people and the Iranian Embassy in Paris was summoned to the Quai d’Orsay, said The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a Communicated .
” We no longer have any news from our comrade “
Christophe Lalande, Federal Secretary of the FNEC FP -FO (National Federation of Teaching Culture and Vocational Training – Force Ouvrière), said Reuters that the couple, whose woman works for His union, “made a tourist trip privately during the Easter holidays. We no longer have any news from our comrade”.
These arrests are involved at the time when negotiations between Iran and international powers, including France, with a view to a revival of the Iranian nuclear program agreement seem to be in a standstill.
Another Frenchman, Benjamin Brière, was sentenced at the start of the year by Tehran to eight years and eight months in prison for “espionage”, for having taken photos of “prohibited zones” in May 2020 with a drone during which he always presented as a tourist trip to the north of the country.