Demonstrators gathered in Paris on Saturday to demand the release of Benjamin Brière, a French national who was arrested in Iran in May 2020 and accused of spying. His family denies the accusations and his sister told FRANCE 24 that her brother was being held illegally without a trial.
“We want to show that Benjamin Brière exists, that he’s not just a passive hostage waiting for something to happen,” his sister Blandine Brière, 31, told FRANCE 24. Brière’s loved ones have been consumed with worry and a sense of powerlessness since he was detained in May 2020 near the Turkmenistan-Iran border.
Brière, 36, was on an overland trip across Asia when he was arrested near the Iranian border and accused of spying. His sister however said her brother had not yet had a court hearing. “There is no valid reason to keep him where he is,” said Blandine. “It’s wrongful confinement.”
Nearly two years after his arrest, demonstrators gathered for a solidarity protest in Place du Trocadero in Paris to demand Brière’s release.
Brière had been travelling around Iran in a van, hoping to explore the country’s roads as he had done on similar trips around Scandinavia, the Balkans and Turkey. The journey, which he was documenting via Instagram, came to an abrupt halt when he was arrested by Iranian security forces in a deserted zone near the border with Turkmenistan.
They accused him of “taking photos in a prohibited area”, using a recreational drone in a natural park, and of using a social media post to question Iranian laws that make wearing the hijab mandatory for women.
By the time Brière had been escorted to Vakilabad prison in Mashhad, northeast Iran, the accusations had escalated to charges of “spying” and “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic of Iran. If found guilty by Iranian courts, Brière could face years in prison or even the death penalty. Twenty months since his detention, legal procedures have yet to begin.
“His case has never been referred to court. There are just these two accusations that have been communicated to his lawyer,” his sister said.
Brière’s lawyer is Saeid Dehghan, who also represents Fariba Adelkhah, a Franco-Iranian academic detained in Iran since 2019. In a Tweet on December 27, 2021 Dehghan wrote, “Why is the revolutionary court in Mashhad waiting to investigate the political accusations against Benjamin Brière, who has now been held for 570 days?”
“We have no case file and no clarity,” his sister said. As far as she is concerned, her brother is “a hostage, held by Iranian authorities”.
‘It’s traumatic’
“He was just a tourist, and nothing can justify the fact that he has spent so much time in prison for no reason and with so little contact with his family, Brière added.
She hears from her brother around every three weeks, as long as the guards on duty agree to it. “It’s a constant battle,” she said. When he is allowed phone calls, Benjamin’s conversations are recorded and translated into Persian, making it impossible for him to speak openly about the reality of his life in prison.
Sometimes all contact is simply refused. Letters between Benjamin and his loved ones have gone undelivered and when prison authorities refused to let him speak to his family over Christmas and New Year, Benjamin started a hunger strike to protest the conditions of his imprisonment.
“Sometimes they let him have a phone call, sometimes they don’t…
