Fariba Adelkhah sentenced to 6 years in prison; Paris calls for immediate release of Iranian-French researcher

Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced Iranian-French researcher Fariba Adelkhah to six years in prison, Saeed Dehghan, Adelkhah’s lawyer, told Reuters on Saturday, May 17.

Fariba Adelkhah is an Iranian-French researcher at the Paris Foundation for Political Science Studies, whose last trial session was held in Iran at the end of April.

According to Saeed Dehghan, Ms. Adelkhah has been sentenced to 5 years in prison on charges of "gathering and colluding against security" and 1 year on charges of propaganda against the system.

In response to Ms. Adelkhah's conviction, the French Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Saturday condemning the verdict and calling for the immediate release of its citizen in Iran. The statement said the conviction was based on a political decision.

Previously, Ms. Adelkhah's lawyer had said that charges of "propaganda activity against the regime" and "gathering and colluding against security" had been brought against her client.

The IRGC Intelligence Organization arrested Fariba Adelkhah in Tehran in June 2019. She had been on a hunger strike for 51 days since early January of last year in protest of her imprisonment for conducting research work.

The judge of Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court is Abolghasem Salavati. Judge Salavati is a judge in the judiciary of the Islamic Republic who has been known for issuing unfair sentences since 2009. He has been under sanctions by the United States since December 2019 on charges of human rights violations.

Source: Voice of America