Benjamin Brière’s Sister, French Tourist: Iranian Authorities Have Taken My Brother ‘Hostage’

Benjamin Brière, a French tourist imprisoned in Iran, has gone on a hunger strike in protest of being denied his rights as a prisoner. His sister says her brother has become caught in a “political situation” and that Iranian authorities have taken him hostage.

Blandine Brière, Benjamin’s sister, said on Tuesday, December 28, in a Skype interview with Kambiz Tavana, a reporter with the Persian section of Voice of America: “My brother started his hunger strike on December 25 because he was not allowed to contact us, his family, for Christmas. Several letters were also sent to him that they did not give him, and that’s why he started the hunger strike to show how difficult this situation has been for him for 20 months and to demonstrate that the situation is critical and action must be taken.”

Ms. Brière, regarding her brother’s current condition and whether the family has been given any information about the outcome of his case, said that her family has no information about him other than his physical and mental state.

She described the situation of communicating with her brother as a form of “psychological torture for him and his family,” and added: “For a few months, he could call us once every three weeks. But now it seems like psychological torture to me because one day they tell us that tomorrow you can call him, and then the next day they say no you can’t. We try every minute but whenever we call the connection doesn’t work. Every day he has to fight for his daily rights as a prisoner, including being able to make phone calls. This is psychological torture for him and for us.”

Benjamin Brière was arrested last June near the Turkmenistan border by the Islamic Republic’s security forces and was charged with “espionage” and “propaganda against the system” in the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad. He is currently serving his sentence in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad.

Regarding her brother’s charges, Blandine Brière said: “Benjamin is just a traveler and tourist who goes to different countries. He was having a good time in Iran, saw very beautiful landscapes, and met people very well. He was taking pictures with the help of a drone. But when I say drone, I mean a cheap type of drone, something more like a toy that he bought online. That’s why they charged him with espionage.”

Ms. Brière added: “There is no reason to keep him imprisoned. He is a tourist and should be released and should not be caught in the middle of politics. He is now caught in a political situation and Iranian authorities have taken him hostage. That’s what this is about.”

Regarding her brother’s current condition in prison, Blandine Brière said: “All communications are recorded, so he cannot say everything on his mind, but at least he is not being physically tortured, which is good news in itself. He says the conditions are difficult. None of the people around him speak English or French. There are prisoners like those sentenced to death alongside him, and living in those conditions is hard. The only thing he does that gives him comfort is making leather handicrafts and making bags with them. For 20 months, his situation has been the same—some handicrafts, some reading, eating, and then sleeping, and that’s it.”

According to Blandine, currently two lawyers are working on her brother’s case, one in France and one in Iran. Benjamin Brière’s family also says they are in contact with the French Foreign Ministry and have held meetings with them.

Benjamin Brière currently has consular access and sees a consular representative every two or three months and receives letters that his family has written to him.

Currently, in addition to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Morad Tahbaz, and Anousheh Ansari, several other dual and multiple nationals, including Emad Sharqi, Siamak Namazi, and his father Baquer Namazi (Iranian-American citizens), Ahmad Reza Jalali (Iranian-Swedish researcher), Masoud Mousavi and Kamran Qaderi (Iranian-Austrian citizens), Mehrdad Raouf (Iranian-British citizen), and Nahid Taghavi (German-Iranian citizen), are imprisoned in Iran.

Source: Voice of America