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French ministry confirms release of academic Fariba Adelkhah from Iranian prison

Iranian authorities on Friday released from prison French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, who was first arrested in June 2019 and was serving a five-year sentence on national security charges vehemently denied by supporters, the French foreign ministry said.

Published: 11 February 2023 09:21 CET
Tehran
A foreign ministry statement said France "welcomed" the release. Photo by Arman Taherian on Unsplash

A foreign ministry statement said France “welcomed” the release, saying she had been “unjustly detained” in Tehran’s Evin prison.

A source close to her, who asked not to be named, earlier told AFP that Adelkhah had been freed from Evin but added it was not immediately clear if she would be able to leave her home and return to France.

The foreign ministry statement added: “It is essential that Mrs Fariba Adelkhah can regain all of her freedoms, including that of returning to France if she wishes.”

Up until Adelkhah’s release, seven French citizens were being held by Iran, according to the French foreign ministry.

They are among two dozen foreign nationals campaigners say Iran has jailed in a strategy of hostage-taking to extract concessions from the West.

Last month Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna had demanded the “immediate release of the seven French hostages arbitrarily detained” by Tehran in telephone talks with her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Iran had erupted into protests in September, following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress rules.

The ensuing crackdown further limited diplomatic contacts between Iran and the West and the scope for agreeing releases of prisoners.

Releases from Evin

Adelkhah’s release came a day after Iran freed a total of seven women from Even prison.

They included campaigner Saba Kordafshari, held since 2019 after she campaigned against the obligatory hijab for women, and prominent photographer.

Alieh Motalebzadeh whose latest stint in jail began in April last year.

On Friday, Iran also released Farhad Meysami, a doctor and human rights campaigner who had been refusing food for several weeks over the authorities’ response to the protests, his lawyer said.

Images of his emaciated body while on hunger strike had caused international concern.

Motalebzadeh wrote on Twitter that Adelkhah was among half a dozen more prisoners released on Friday.

A picture also circulated on social media of a smiling Adelkhah in a car apparently being driven away from prison.

It was not clear if the releases were linked to an announcement by the office of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he had agreed to pardon a large number of convicts, including those detained over the protests.

Rights activists have urged scepticism over the announcements, noting that many prominent figures remain in jail and activists continue to be arrested.

A specialist in Shiite Islam and a research director at Sciences Po university in Paris, Adelkhah was arrested in June 2019 along with her French colleague and partner Roland Marchal.

Marchal was released in March 2020 in an apparent prisoner swap after France released Iranian engineer Jallal Rohollahnejad, who faced extradition to the United States over accusations he had violated US sanctions against Iran.

Adelkhah was sentenced in May 2020 to five years in prison for conspiring against national security, accusations her supporters have always denounced as absurd.

She was allowed home in Tehran in October 2020 with an electronic bracelet but was then returned to jail on January 2022.

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READER QUESTION

Reader question: Can I approach my French deputé for help? 

If you live in France you will have a local representative in parliament - but can you approach them for help if you have a problem? Here's how the député system works.

Published: 24 May 2024 15:49 CEST
Reader question: Can I approach my French deputé for help? 

There are 557 députés (MPs) in France’s Assemblée nationale – of whom 362 are men and 215 are women. 

They are elected on a constituency (circonscription) basis, so every area of France has its ‘local’ representative in parliament – you can look up yours here.

Officially however, French MPs are invested with a national mandate – effectively, France is their constituency. They are, therefore, expected to act in what they believe are the best interests of the whole country at all times – not just the interest of their local area.

National mandate 

“MPs in France are not mouthpieces for their voters,” the Assemblée nationale website declares, “they act for themselves in relation to their vision of the general interest.”

It goes on to insist that MPs, “cannot be prisoners of local or sectional interests” – meaning that they should not be persuaded to vote in a particular way by outside parties, whether that is businesses/ monied individuals/ lobbyists – or their own voters. 

It’s a Revolutionary ideal that has its origins in article three of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, from August 26th, 1789: “The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body, no individual can exercise authority that does not emanate expressly from it.”

And the French Constitution states: “national sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it through their representatives”.

Basically, it means that deputies represent the entire nation and not just voters in their constituency.

READ ALSO OPINION: How to be loved by the French electorate? Retire or die

In reality, of course, MPs are influenced by what matters to their constituents – so for example an MP elected in a rural area might be more likely to back laws that protect farmers. 

And it’s not just MPs – the recent unsuccessful attempts to ease post-Brexit rules for British second-home owners were proposed by Senators who have constituencies in south-west France and the Alps; areas well known for having a high number of second homes.

Nonetheless, the theory is of ‘national’ MPs.

Meeting the locals

Crucially, however, this does not mean that – once elected – MPs do not meet residents in the constituencies that elected them and discuss local issues. Quite the opposite.

Constituents can contact their député to discuss ideas and concerns. In fact, your local MP – with their national mandate – is easy to get in touch with. You can find their official assembly email address here, along with where they sit in the hemisphere and what they have recently been up to in parliament, by searching for your commune or département.

In theory, that national mandate means you could contact any of France’s 577 MPs for assistance. But it makes sense to seek out the ones the electorate in your area voted for, because it means they should have a handle on any local issues and angles.

If you already know the name of your friendly neighbourhood MP, you could search for them on social media, and contact them that way; while many – but by no means all – have their own website, with additional contact details. 

So, generally, you can get hold of your French MP easily enough. They hold office hours, organise public meetings, respond to numerous requests for assistance and advice, and channel the concerns of their constituents to national decision-making bodies.

It is part of their job to help you if they can.

You may also bump into them at events in the local area such as summer fêstivals, the Fête de la musique or more formal events such as the Armistice Day commemorations or the July 14th celebrations. Politicians like to get involved in local events to either remain part of the community or to persuade people to re-elect them (take your pick).

At formal events they will be wearing a tricolore sash and you will be able to tell them apart from the local mayor by which way up they wear their sashes (honestly, this is true).

Mairie

Sometimes their help will involve pointing you in the direction of your local mairie – which may be better at dealing with more practical matters.

In fact, for many local issues, the mairie should be your first port of call – or possibly the préfecture. France has several layers of local government and they have quite far-reaching powers – especially local mayors.

For this reason, it’s more usual to first approach the mairie rather than your MP if you have a problem – but there’s nothing to stop you approaching your MP instead.

The convenient truth is that French MPs do not work just in the ivory tower of the Palais Bourbon.

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