French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that Iran has released French citizen Olivier Grondeau after 887 days in detention
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that Iran has released French citizen Olivier Grondeau after 887 days in detention
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that Iran has released French citizen Olivier Grondeau after 887 days in detention.
“Our mobilization will not weaken: Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris must be freed from Iranian jails,” Macron said.
Grondeau revealed his identity in January through a recorded prison phone call broadcast by France Inter. He called his detention arbitrary and unbearable.
Iran arrested the 34-year-old tourist on October 12, 2022, in Shiraz during his world tour. He said Iran used him for political blackmail during negotiations with France.
Iranian courts sentenced Grondeau to five years for “espionage and conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.”
Officials imprisoned him in Evin Prison’s section for foreign and dual-national detainees.
Political Prisoner in Critical Condition After 18-Day Hunger Strike
Abdulaziz Azimi Ghadim, a political prisoner, is in critical condition after 19 days on hunger strike
Abdulaziz Azimi Ghadim, a political prisoner, is in critical condition after 19 days on hunger strike.
His family said he began the hunger strike on March 2 and has lost consciousness once, requiring other inmates to take him to Evin Prison’s medical facility.
Prison officials have summoned Azimi to the director’s office, cut off his phone privileges, and threatened him with solitary confinement if he continues his protest.
His family cannot visit him due to the 600-kilometer distance and prison restrictions.
Azimi is protesting the sentences against himself and other Azeri prisoners, which he claims are based on fabricated charges.
In a previously recorded call from prison, he demanded a meeting with the judiciary chief to question why Judge Abolqasem Salavati - whose verdicts are frequently overturned by the Supreme Court - remains in power.
He also questioned why activists arrested in cities like Tabriz, Ardabil, and Bonab are transferred to Tehran for trial, and why he, as a cleric, was not tried in the Special Court for Clergy.
Security forces arrested Azimi in February 2024. After months of interrogation, he was sentenced in October 2024 by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court to six years in prison on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and “assembly and collusion.”
He had no access to legal counsel during the proceedings.
Yasuj Rape Victim Dies After ‘Taking Pills’
Asma Ghazanfari, a 26-year-old student who was gang-raped in Yasuj, died after “taking pills,” a human rights website reported.
The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported that Ghazanfari died on March 16. Her family held a quiet funeral without media coverage.
“Asma Ghazanfari’s death is highly suspicious,” a source close to her family said. “The family’s silence and the remote funeral location raise questions about whether she committed suicide.”
Reports emerged on December 2, 2024, that classmates had blackmailed and gang-raped Ghazanfari following an online dispute.
They leaked a video of the assault. Yasuj police arrested all suspects.
The attackers also stabbed Ghazanfari, causing injuries that required extended hospitalization.
Her family buried her on Monday in a remote village with few attendees, far from her birthplace.
A federal court in New York convicted two men on Thursday of plotting to assassinate Iranian American activist Masih Alinejad in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors said was financed by the Islamic Republic
A federal court in New York convicted two men on Thursday of plotting to assassinate Iranian American activist Masih Alinejad in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors said was financed by the Islamic Republic
A federal court in New York convicted two men on Thursday of plotting to assassinate Iranian American activist Masih Alinejad in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors said was financed by the Islamic Republic.
Prosecutors said Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov were crime bosses in a Russian mob.
They were found guilty following a two-week trial featuring testimony from a hired gunman and Alinejad herself.
Defense lawyers claimed their clients were innocent and challenged the evidence presented.
Prosecutors said Iran offered $500,000 for the July 2022 plot after earlier harassment attempts failed.
Khalid Mehdiyev, who cooperated with prosecutors after pleading guilty, testified that he was hired as the hitman.
He purchased an AK-47 but was caught when police stopped his car and found the weapon in July 2022. A doorbell camera had recorded him standing on Alinejad’s porch.