He finally returned to France. Ex-detainee in Iran Louis Arnaud landed this Thursday morning. After shaking the hand of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Séjourné, present at the foot of the gangway of the small plane which transported him to Bourget airport, near Paris, he then hugged his father for a long time, then his mother, who came to wait for him there. The ex-hostage did not get directly into the ambulance provided. He headed, visibly tired but smiling, arm in arm with his loved ones, towards a living room, out of the camera’s field.
President Emmanuel Macron announced his release on Wednesday, urging Tehran to release “without delay” the three other French people still detained in this country. “Louis Arnaud is free. He will be in France tomorrow after too long an incarceration in Iran,” the president announced in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter). “I thank our Omani friends and all those who worked for this happy outcome,” he wrote.
“This evening, I am also thinking of Cécile, Jacques and Olivier. I call on Iran to release them without delay,” he added.
The thirty-year-old began a world tour in July 2022 which took him to Iran, “a country that he had dreamed of visiting for a long time for the richness of its history and the welcome of its inhabitants”, recounted his mother Sylvie Arnaud a few months ago.
A conviction deemed “unacceptable” by Paris
The consultant was arrested in September 2022 with other Europeans accused of participating in protests after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurd who died after her arrest by the morality police.
His traveling companions were quickly released but Louis Arnaud remained in prison before being sentenced last November to five years in prison for propaganda and endangering the security of the Iranian state. His conviction was deemed “unacceptable” by Paris.
“The accusations made against him, namely propaganda and undermining the security of the Iranian state, are completely unfounded,” his mother kept insisting.
The three other French people still detained in Iranian jails are the couple Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, arrested in May 2022, as well as a Frenchman named Olivier whose name has not been made public.
“We will obviously continue our efforts for the three French people who remain incarcerated in Iran,” indicated the diplomatic source.
