May 26, 2020. It is a year ago, to the day, that the Frenchman Benjamin Brière, a 35-year-old tourist who was touring Iran in a van, was arrested by the Iranian security forces while he was handling a travel drone in a nature park in the northeast of the country. Accused of “espionage” and “propaganda against the system” of the Islamic Republic for having taken “photographs of prohibited areas”, he has since been detained in the central prison Vakilabad of Mashhad. But his fate today seems to go beyond his simple case.
The future of Benjamin Brière appears to be linked to a political hostage haggling between Iran and France, a practice tested in recent years by the Islamic Republic to obtain the release of Iranian prisoners in Europe. On the dark anniversary of her arrest, her sister Blandine Brière writes an open letter to President Emmanuel Macron, in which she underlines the lack of information on the Iranian legal proceedings against her brother and asks the chief of the State to do everything in its power to obtain his release. She explains this in an interview with Point.Blandine Brière’s letter to the President of the Republic:
Blandine Brière: We write to him because it has been exactly one year since my brother Benjamin was detained in Iran. We wanted to stress that nothing has happened since his arrest on May 26, 2020. He and we are still waiting. We have no visibility on the legal proceedings and the possible outcome of this case.
In mid-March, one of your brother’s lawyers, Saeid Dehghan, announced that he was being prosecuted for “espionage” and “propaganda against the system”. Has nothing happened since?
What was announced in March seemed to herald an evolution, even if it was terrible. But since then, nothing has happened. We have no information on any decision of the judge. We have no concrete information on the fate that awaits Benjamin.
Does Benjamin Brière still benefit from consular visits?
These visits are maintained, but they do not bring us much. The consul assures us that Benjamin is fine, but it stops there. Today, that is no longer enough for us, that is why we appeal to the President of the Republic.
How is your brother’s health?
We have only been able to speak to him four times in a year by telephone. Luckily, I was able to have it two days ago. The conditions of detention are always the same. Benjamin is in a dormitory with 12 other prisoners, and he is not mistreated. He enjoys a little privacy, and begins to learn a little Persian, even if the language barrier remains. My brother spends his days leatherworking in a workshop in prison, which helps him maintain his moral health. He also reads books transmitted to him by the consul. On our side, we were able to send him letters and photos, but it stops there. Neither he nor we have any idea what will happen to him, whether he will be released in two days or in two years. We have no prospect of time or any deadline, and that is very hard to bear.
We are talking about a French tourist locked up for no reason for a year in Iran!
In your letter to the president, you consider that your brother “finds himself to be an instrument of negotiations which goes beyond him”. What do you mean exactly by that?
If this were just a simple legal proceeding, then my brother’s situation would have advanced for a year. However, we have nothing. We therefore suspect that something else is happening. We find ourselves in the framework of diplomatic relations between states, a world that we do not control at all.
Wasn’t it unwise to tour Iran in the current geopolitical context, moreover to use a drone to take travel photos?
No matter if what my brother did was right or wrong, nothing can justify what he is going through. We are talking about a French tourist locked up for no reason for a year in Iran!
What exactly do you expect from Emmanuel Macron?
The president is the best person to help us. I would like him to use all the diplomatic means at his disposal to get my brother out of there. We are now totally helpless, because so far no one has done anything concrete for Benjamin. And if I do not address myself to the President of the Republic, to whom can I do it?
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