Launch of Mahdieh Esfandiari comes every week after Iran launched two French residents held on espionage costs.
Printed On 15 Apr 2026
Iranian nationwide Mahdieh Esfandiari has returned residence after being held in France for greater than a 12 months as a part of what seems to be an change of detainees between the international locations.
Iran’s state tv reported on Wednesday that the “rights activist”, sentenced to 1 12 months in jail after making on-line feedback supportive of Palestine and the 2023 Hamas assault on Israel that prompted the genocidal struggle on Gaza, had returned to Iran.
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The College of Lyon graduate, who had been dwelling in France since 2018, the place she labored as a translator, was arrested in February final 12 months on costs of selling “terrorism”, and launched on bail in October.
“I believe it’s clear for everybody that there is no such thing as a freedom of speech, at the very least not in France the place I used to be. The court docket’s ruling was very unjust,” Esfandiari informed state tv in a Wednesday broadcast.
Esfandiari’s launch comes every week after French residents Cecile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, arrived in France after being held for greater than three years in Iran.
Kohler and Paris have been arrested by Iranian authorities in Could 2022 however have been freed in November final 12 months, after greater than three years in jail on espionage costs that their households vehemently deny.
They have been taken by French diplomats to France’s mission in Tehran, the place they lived beneath home arrest till their full launch on April 7. Upon their launch, they have been pushed from Iran to neighbouring Azerbaijan earlier than taking a flight to Paris.
President Emmanuel Macron’s workplace mentioned their launch was the end result of a “long-term effort”, however talks accelerated in current weeks as a consequence of stress from the US-Israel struggle on Iran, giving a way of urgency to the state of affairs.
Whereas an change was not explicitly acknowledged by France, Iran’s state-run company IRNA had beforehand mentioned Tehran reached an settlement with Paris for the discharge of the French residents in change for Esfandiari.
