(AFP) — An Iranian court has ordered a five-year jail sentence against a French national tried on national security charges, his family announced on Wednesday.
Louis Arnaud, a banking consultant, was detained in Iran in September last year and has been held in Tehran’s Evin prison.
Arnaud was handed the sentence by a Revolutionary Court on charges of making propaganda against and seeking to harm the security of the Islamic republic, the family said in a statement.
The family said Arnaud was innocent of all charges and denounced the verdict as “an attack on human rights and individual freedoms”.
The statement described Arnaud as a “passionate traveller” who had long wanted to visit Iran.
“Unfortunately, his dream turned into a nightmare when he was unjustly targeted, imprisoned, and now convicted on baseless charges, stripping him of his freedom and rights.”
It insisted he had “kept a distance from the social movements that were starting” while in Iran, in reference to the protest movement that erupted in September 2022.
“At no time did he act with political intentions or carelessness.”
Arnaud has lodged an appeal against the verdict, the family…
Read the full article here