French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah temporarily released in Iran: Laywer
French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah has been temporarily released from prison and is currently in Tehran with an electronic bracelet, her lawyer told AFP on Saturday.
Adelkhah “was released with an electronic bracelet. She is now with her family in Tehran,” attorney Saeed Dehghan said, adding that “we hope that this temporary release will become final.”
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A specialist in Shia Islam and a research director at Sciences Po university in Paris, Adelkhah was arrested in June last year.
She was sentenced on May 16 to five years in prison for “gathering and conspiring against national security.”
Her trial started on March 3 with the last hearing held on April 19 at Tehran’s Revolutionary Court.
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She is a citizen of Iran and France, but Tehran does not recognise dual nationality.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said in early June that Adelkhah had been “arbitrarily arrested in Iran” and called her detainment “unacceptable.”
Iran has slammed Paris’ calls for Adelkhah’s release as “interference” in the Islamic republic’s internal affairs.
Adelkhah’s French colleague and partner Roland Marchal, who was detained along with her, was released in March in an apparent prisoner swap.
Marchal was freed after France released Iranian engineer Jallal Rohollahnejad, who faced extradition to the United States over accusations he violated US sanctions against Iran.
