The Islamic Republic confirms the arrest of dual-citizen researcher Fariba Adelkhah
After news of the arrest of Fariba Adelkhah, a researcher at the Paris Institute for Political Studies in France, was published, the Islamic Republic confirmed the arrest of this Iranian-French researcher.
Ali Rabiei, a spokesman for the Iranian government, said regarding the arrest of Fariba Adelkhah, a researcher living in France, "I have no information about this. I heard the news and I do not know who arrested her and for what reason."
Previously, unofficial news about the researcher's arrest had been published. According to these reports, Ms. Adelkhah was arrested on June 7th of this year by the IRGC's intelligence service.
However, the details of this researcher's arrest have not yet been confirmed by Iranian officials, and it is unclear what the reason for his arrest was.
The detention of dual nationals is a common practice in Iran, and Western analysts say the Islamic Republic uses dual nationals as hostages to extract money and concessions from Western governments. France, which has joined the United States in its maximum pressure campaign, sent a senior adviser to the president to Iran last week for talks with Tehran officials.
Several French people have been arrested in Iran in the past decade, and Iran has released them through negotiations and sometimes through prisoner exchanges. One such case was the release of French student Clotilde Reiss, who was arrested on the sidelines of the 2009 Iranian protests and was eventually exchanged with Ali Vakili-Rad, accused of murdering Shapour Bakhtiar, and Majid Kakavand, accused of cooperating in arms trade with Iran.
Source: Voice of America
