An Iranian appeals courtroom has upheld an eight-year jail sentence towards a Frenchman convicted on spying fees, his Paris-based lawyer stated Tuesday.
Benjamin Briere was arrested in Could 2020 after taking photos in a nationwide park with a leisure drone. His legal professionals and household have accused Iran of holding him as a “hostage”.
The lawyer, Philippe Valent, stated Briere’s case was being “instrumentalised” by the Iranian authorities.
“It’s stunning and dramatic,” he informed AFP, including that the decision coincided with the resumption of negotiations between Tehran and Western powers on Iran’s nuclear programme.
The appeals courtroom defined its resolution by accusing Briere of being “an agent within the service of an enemy state” in its verdict, which was translated by Briere’s Iranian lawyer, Valent stated.
Briere, 36, who was convicted in January for spying and propaganda towards Iran’s Islamic system, had appealed the sentence.
His lawyer stated he had not even been given entry to the total indictment towards him.
The decision towards Briere comes as Iran and world powers are looking for to achieve settlement at talks in Vienna on reviving the 2015 deal over the Iranian nuclear programme.
Chief negotiators from america and Iran had been as a consequence of begin oblique talks in Qatar on Tuesday, to attempt to take away obstacles stalling makes an attempt to revive a landmark nuclear deal.
Nationals of all three European powers concerned within the talks on the Iranian nuclear programme — Britain, France and Germany — are amongst foreigners being held in Iran.
“We ask the French, American and British authorities to make the liberation of hostages a pre-condition for the resumption of negotiations,” Valent stated.
Throughout his unique trial, Briere’s sister Blandine informed AFP her brother was a “political hostage” subjected to a “parody of justice”.
“It’s a political trial, and it’s helpful to Iran, which is sending a message to the French authorities,” she stated.
The French overseas ministry on the time described the decision as “unacceptable”, saying Briere was a “vacationer”.
Iran insists all of the foreigners held are tried consistent with home regulation however has repeatedly expressed its readiness to hold out prisoner swaps.
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