France Calls for Immediate Release of Fariba Adelkhah, Iranian-French Citizen

Fariba Adelkhah was detained in June 2019 (June 1398) along with Roland Marchal, a French researcher and her life partner, during their trip to Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Roland Marchal was released during a prisoner exchange between Iran and France. During this exchange, Jalal Rouhanifard was exchanged for Marchal. Rouhanifard was imprisoned in France on charges of circumventing American sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran and was scheduled to be handed over to the United States.

Fariba Adelkhah, a researcher at the Center for Political Science Studies in Paris, was initially detained on “espionage charges.”

In May 2020, the judiciary issued a non-final verdict of 6 years imprisonment for her on charges of “assembly and conspiracy to act against national security” and “propaganda against the system.”

The judiciary ultimately announced a final verdict of 5 years imprisonment for Fariba Adelkhah in July of the same year.

She was temporarily released in October of last year with an electronic ankle bracelet and on bail, but on Wednesday, December 22, after approximately 15 months, she was transferred back to Evin Prison.

The Fariba Adelkhah Support Committee in France has also protested the measures taken by the Islamic Republic authorities to return this Iranian-French citizen to prison.