The Iranian authorities have indicted a French tourist on charges of spying and spreading propaganda against the system. His lawyer made it known. It was the latest in a series of cases against foreigners amid growing tensions between Iran and the West. Benjamin Briere was arrested in May last year after taking photos in a desert area where photography is prohibited and asking questions about the mandatory Islamic headscarf for Iranian women. A conviction for espionage in Iran can lead to a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and a sentence on the charge of spreading propaganda against the system can be punishable from three months to a year. It is not yet clear when the trial will take place.
Tehran, the Anglo-Iranian Nazanin sentenced to another year in prison. London: inhumane sentence
by Enrico Franceschini
Rights groups accuse radicals from Iranian security agencies of using foreign detainees as a bargaining chip to obtain money or influence negotiations with the West. Tehran denies this, but there have been prisoner exchanges in the past. Last year, Iran and France swapped French researcher Roland Marchal with Iranian engineer Jalal Ruhollahnejad. Briere is the last Westerner to be held on charges of espionage. In March, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen, reappeared in a Tehran court to face similar propaganda charges after serving a five-year prison sentence. She remains in limbo in Iran awaiting a verdict, unable to return to London.
Iran, thriller on negotiations with GB and the US for the release of prisoners
Briere’s case comes as Iran increases pressure on the US and European powers, including France and the UK, to lift sanctions, reintroduced after the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. US President Joe Biden has since joined talks to restore the deal. But Washington and Tehran have reached an impasse, and each insists that the other take the first step towards re-entering the agreement.
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