Benjamin Brière and Bernard Phelan, two French people arbitrarily detained in Iran, have been released, announces the Quai d’Orsay

They will be able to go home. Two French people arbitrarily detained in Iran were released on Friday May 12, the Quai d’Orsay announced. “Our compatriots Benjamin Brière and Bernard Phelan, detained until then in Iran, are on their way to France this Friday, May 12”writes in a press release the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Frenchman Benjamin Brière, 37, had been imprisoned for almost three years, accused of espionage. Franco-Irish Bernard Phelan, 64, was arrested on October 30, 2022 for undermining national security. “They received medical care as soon as they were released from prison”specifies the Quai d’Orsay.

“During an exchange this morning with my Iranian counterpart, Mr. Hossein Amir Abdollahian, I thanked all those who worked for these releases. I recalled France’s determination so that other French citizens still detained in Iran, they too quickly regain their full freedom and benefit from their right to consular protection”says the ministry.

Five other French nationals detained

In Iran, there are still at least four other detainees of French nationality: Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris for more than ten months, Louis Arnaud for more than seven months, as well as a seventh French national, whose identity has not been made public. The Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in June 2019 and then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, was released from prison in February, but she remains stranded on Iranian soil.

France will continue “to act for the return of our compatriots still detained in Iran”assured French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday. “Free, finally. Benjamin Brière and Bernard Phelan will be reunited with their loved ones. It’s a relief. I welcome their release. Thank you to all those who worked for this outcome”, he wrote in a tweet.