The sentence has fallen. Benjamin Brière, a Frenchman detained in Iran for more than a year and a half, was sentenced on Tuesday January 25 to eight years in prison by a revolutionary court for spying against the regime.
He was also given an additional eight months to “propaganda” against the Iranian regime, said his lawyer, Me Philippe Valent, who denounces a “trial charade”.
→ EXPLANATION. Iran: Frenchman Benjamin Brière will be tried for “espionage”
Accusations firmly refuted by the one who has always presented himself as a tourist. “Benjamin Brière has always vigorously denied the absurdity of the accusations against him, he is neither a spy nor a threat to Iranian internal security and never has been”, assured Me Philippe Valent, adding that his client hoped “a declaration of innocence and repatriation to France in order to be able to rebuild, physically and psychologically”.
Hunger-strike
At 36, Benjamin Brière was arrested for taking “photographs of prohibited areas” with a hobby drone in an Iranian natural park. He is being held in Valikabad prison, in Mashhad (north-east). Arrested in May 2020, he began a hunger strike at the end of December to protest against his conditions of detention, and is “very weakened”, according to his lawyer.
Iran is holding more than a dozen Western passport holders, mostly dual nationals, in what NGOs condemn as a hostage-taking policy designed to extract concessions from foreign powers.