{"id":262835,"date":"2025-03-20T10:50:18","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T10:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/iran-releases-french-citizen-after-2-years-in-detention-officials-say\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T10:50:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T10:50:18","slug":"iran-releases-french-citizen-after-2-years-in-detention-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/iran-releases-french-citizen-after-2-years-in-detention-officials-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Releases French Citizen After 2 Years in Detention, Officials Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/20\/multimedia\/20int-iran-france-tfpm\/20int-iran-france-tfpm-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Iran Releases French Citizen After 2 Years in Detention, Officials Say\" title=\"Iran Releases French Citizen After 2 Years in Detention, Officials Say\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A French citizen who spent over two years in detention in Iran on spying charges was released this week, the French government said on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Emmanuel Macron of France had earlier denounced Iran\u2019s detention of the man, Olivier Grondeau, 34, and two other French citizens as \u201cdisgraceful and arbitrary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot, France\u2019s foreign minister, on Thursday <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jnbarrot\/status\/1902602076280000941\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">described Mr. Grondeau\u2019s release as a \u201chuge relief\u201d<\/a> and said it was the result of \u201ctireless work\u201d by French diplomats, although it was unclear what exactly that involved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Western countries have accused Iran of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/16\/world\/middleeast\/iran-hostage-swap-history.html\" title=\"\">detaining people to use them as diplomatic bargaining chips<\/a> to press for the release of Iranian prisoners abroad or to free frozen funds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In January, an Iranian engineer whom Italy had detained on an American extradition request <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/12\/world\/europe\/italy-iran-us-abedini.html\" title=\"\">was freed<\/a> shortly after Iran <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/18\/world\/middleeast\/cecilia-sala-italy-iran-revolutionary-guards.html?searchResultPosition=2\" title=\"\">released an Italian journalist<\/a> from prison. And as part of a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/21\/world\/middleeast\/prisoner-swap-france-iran.html\" title=\"\">prisoner swap<\/a> in 2020, France secured the release of an academic who had been held in Iran on national security charges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Grondeau was detained in October 2022 while visiting Iran on a tourist visa. In February of last year, the Iranian authorities sentenced him to five years in prison on spying charges \u2014 accusations that Mr. Grondeau and the French government strenuously rejected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In January, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.radiofrance.fr\/franceculture\/podcasts\/journal-de-8-h\/journal-de-8h-du-lundi-13-janvier-2025-2620253\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">French radio published an audio recording<\/a> from Mr. Grondeau\u2019s prison cell in Tehran. In the recording, Mr. Grondeau said that he and others being held in Iran were \u201cat the heart of political blackmail that has nothing to do with us, and leaves us at our wits\u2019 end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An advocacy group created to secure his release <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/libertepourolivier.fr\/portrait\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said at the time<\/a> that Mr. Grondeau was facing \u201csignificant deterioration of his psychological health\u201d and that the detention conditions were \u201cdestroying hm a little more each day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Monday evening, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tf1info.fr\/international\/info-tf1-lci-otage-en-iran-pendant-deux-ans-et-demi-le-francais-olivier-grondeau-libere-2360408.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">footage filmed by the broadcaster TF1<\/a> showed Mr. Grondeau arriving at Le Bourget airport, north of Paris, where he was greeted by Mr. Barrot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Macron <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EmmanuelMacron\/status\/1902600857050394655\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said on X<\/a>, \u201cWe share his family\u2019s immense joy and relief.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Two other French citizens in Iranian custody, C\u00e9cile Kohler and Jacques Paris, have been detained for nearly three years on similar spying charges. Mr. Barrot vowed on Thursday that France would be \u201crelentless in our efforts to secure the release of all our compatriots still held hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/20\/world\/europe\/france-iran-prisoner-release.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A French citizen who spent over two years in detention in Iran on spying charges was released this week, the French government said on Thursday. President Emmanuel Macron of France had earlier denounced Iran\u2019s detention of the man, Olivier Grondeau, 34, and two other French citizens as \u201cdisgraceful and arbitrary.\u201d Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot, France\u2019s foreign minister, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/20\/multimedia\/20int-iran-france-tfpm\/20int-iran-france-tfpm-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[163201,14597,10454,165194,9403,8456,3096,19606,163202,17875,120,202446,148503,167181,6037,111],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262835"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262837,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262835\/revisions\/262837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}