Frenchman Benjamin Brière, 36, detained in Iran since “almost 20 months”, is not a spy but “a tourist, a travel lover”, hammered his sister, Blandine Brière, Saturday January 8 on franceinfo. The family of this “hostage”, on hunger strike since December 25 to protest “against his situation”, calls for a mobilization, the same day, on the Esplanade du Trocadéro in Paris, at 2 p.m.
franceinfo: How is your brother? Have you been able to hear from him?
He goes as best he can, imprisoned halfway around the world and on hunger strike. He was supposed to be able to call us for the holidays, which he was refused, certainly at the last moment, as sometimes happens. That’s why he started this hunger strike, and also to protest, as best he can, from where he is, against the situation in which he has been for almost 20 months.
What do you expect from this gathering that you are organizing at Place du Trocadéro in Paris?
I am calling for people to come together, quite simply to bring together those close to Benjamin, the people who support us, to show as many people as possible that he exists, and that he is not a sleeping hostage, who does nothing. I’m going to highlight the fact that he too is protesting on his side and putting himself in danger to show that he exists, and that all of this has to move forward. It’s just a rally of support to show that Benjamin is a dear son, uncle, cousin, friend. It is to show that he is a completely normal person supported by a lot of people, that he is a tourist [et pas un espion, comme l’assure l’Iran]. He’s known for that, because he’s in love with travel, he built his van and he travels the world with it.
You use the word “hostage”. For you, your brother is hostage to Iran, caught in a diplomatic power game that is completely beyond you?
It’s my point of view. In any case, that’s what I realize on my scale. Today, we have no specific information from the judicial record. We have these two accusations [au mois de mai, l’avocat iranien de Benjamin Brière a indiqué qu’il serait jugé pour “espionnage” et “propagande” contre le système politique iranien], but without a file, without papers, without anything at all. There is no court that has been seized to deal with the case. From then on, he can be called a hostage. Moreover, we have already known these patterns before. Regarding the espionage accusations, we are talking about a drone bought 100 euros on the Internet, which allowed to send pretty photos to his family and his community on social networks, it stops there.
What do you expect from the French government?
Today, he is doing what he can, but we ask for more. We ask for elements to hold on to in order to observe an evolution, to hold firm, to have hope, to hope for things in the times to come.