Five-Year Prison Sentence for Louis Arnaud; France: Unacceptable

The Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran has sentenced a French citizen named Louis Arnaud to five years in prison. In response to this ruling, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned it, calling it 'unacceptable.' According to reports from Agence France-Presse, this news was announced on Wednesday, November 8, by Mr. Arnaud's family, a banking consultant who was arrested in Iran last September and is currently imprisoned in Evin Prison in Tehran. Mr. Arnaud's family stated in a statement that the Islamic Revolutionary Court accused him of 'propaganda against the security of the Islamic Republic.' The statement emphasized that Louis Arnaud is innocent and that the ruling against him constitutes 'an attack on human rights and individual freedoms.' The Arnaud family condemned this ruling, describing him as a 'passionate traveler' who had long wished to visit Iran. They wrote: 'Unfortunately, his dream turned into a nightmare when he was unjustly targeted, imprisoned, and now convicted under baseless accusations, depriving him of his freedom and rights.' The Arnaud family stressed that he distanced himself from the protests last year that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police, had no political aims, and did not act 'recklessly.' According to this report, Louis Arnaud has appealed the court's ruling. In this context, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Wednesday, condemning the ruling against Mr. Arnaud and calling it 'unacceptable.' The statement read: 'We demand his immediate release and that of all French citizens who have been arbitrarily detained in Iran.' The news of this ruling has not yet been reported in Iranian media, nor has the judiciary of the Islamic Republic publicly confirmed it. Mr. Arnaud is one of at least 12 foreign citizens that activists and Western governments say the Islamic Republic has imprisoned as part of a deliberate hostage-taking strategy aimed at gaining leverage from the West. Several foreign prisoners in Iran have been released in recent months in a complex exchange with the Islamic Republic in exchange for six billion dollars that had previously been frozen in South Korea. In May of this year, the Islamic Republic released French prisoners Benjamin Brier and Bernard Filan after their health deteriorated following a hunger strike. Mr. Filan also holds Irish citizenship. Additionally, Fariba Adelkhah, a university professor with dual French-Iranian citizenship, returned to France last month after four and a half years of detention. However, besides Louis Arnaud, three other French citizens remain imprisoned in Iran: Cecile Kohler (a teacher) and her husband Jacques Paris, and a man known only by his first name, Olivier. Ms. Kohler and Mr. Paris, along with several labor activists and teachers, including Reza Shahabi, Hassan Saidi, Davood Razavi, Keyvan Mohtadi, and Rasoul Badaghi, were arrested for meeting in Tehran. Subsequently, the Islamic Republic's television aired footage of this meeting in a restaurant, and the Arabic-language network 'Al-Alam,' affiliated with the Islamic Republic's radio and television, announced on October 6 of last year that it had published 'forced confessions' of the two French citizens, claiming they traveled to Iran about five months ago to prepare for a 'revolution and the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.' This accusation came at a time when the families of the detainees, as well as human rights organizations and labor unions in Iran and worldwide, rejected it, asserting that the meeting was legal in accordance with International Labor Organization conventions. These two French trade union activists remain imprisoned along with several labor activists and teachers. The detention of these two and other labor activists and teachers has drawn widespread criticism from labor unions and teachers worldwide.