VS’is the affair which poisons relations between France and Iran. On June 3, an Iranian national was arrested by the French police in Dijon and placed in administrative detention in the city of Metz. Called Bashir Biazar, this former executive of Iranian state radio and television, who has been living in France for two and a half years alongside his wife and two children, is the target of a ministerial expulsion order presented as an “absolute emergency” .
Considered by the Ministry of the Interior to be an “Iranian agent of influence linked to the intelligence services of the Islamic Republic”, this 41-year-old man, openly pro-Palestinian, is still in detention, despite the active campaign of Iranian authorities to obtain his release. His French lawyer, Me Rachid Lemoudaa, answers questions from Point.
Point : How is Bashir Biazar doing after three weeks of detention?
Me Rachid Lemoudaa: He is very, very poorly and has talked about going on a hunger strike. But what shocks me even more is that Mr. Biazar is a person who was in France legally since he was in possession of a residence permit issued by the French authorities. He accompanied his wife, a researcher who was preparing her doctoral thesis. So he is not someone who seeks to remain irregularly on French territory. He has never been convicted, neither in his country nor in France, and respects the laws of the Republic. On June 3, he was unfairly summoned. He was made to believe that his situation was going to be examined, but when he arrived there, he discovered that he was subject to an expulsion order issued by the Minister of the Interior on May 22. He was not even able to provide his version of the facts, what we call the adversarial principle, a cardinal right on which our rule of law is based, and was immediately placed in detention.Iranian authorities say your client’s detention has been extended by 28 days. Is it correct ?
The prefect of Côte-d’Or, based on this ministerial decree, placed my client in administrative detention. But this is not a detention but a purely administrative measure. There is therefore no offense under criminal law. This detention lasted 48 hours then, as the law provides, it was extended by 28 days, and still remains in force.
How was this 28-day extension motivated?
Legally, as a lawyer, this decision surprises me and shocks me all the more as my client presents all the guarantees provided by the French legislator for being under house arrest. He holds a valid passport, can provide proof of a stable and reliable address, has his own funds and has children attending school in France. Bashir Biazar was therefore deprived of his freedom, in violation of the very principles of law.
READ ALSO EXCLUSIVE. Bashir Biazar: the explosive affair which poisons relations between France and Iran The French authorities accuse him of being an agent of influence linked to the Iranian intelligence services.
I was able to read this like you. But it is not enough to accuse a person like that, without providing the slightest proof of his assertions. You cannot deprive a person of their freedom based on assumptions or suspicions. You have to show a minimum of evidence. You know, as a lawyer, I am a lawyer and not a politician. By defending my client’s interests, I act within the scope of the law, and I in turn defend the very principles of the Republic in our rule of law. There is absolutely nothing in the file to justify this accusation. Now, if this were the case, it would be necessary to demonstrate it and provide a minimum of evidence to justify such deprivation of liberty. I remind you that the burden of proof lies with the person who prosecutes.
According to the expulsion order, your client is also accused of certain positions taken on social networks regarding Palestine.
This surprises me even more. Everyone was entitled to read the comments made by my client, which are also public. There is nothing secret. These posts which were published on social networks, in particular on his Instagram account, relate, for example, to the action of this French member of the National Assembly [Sébastien Delogu, NDLR] who waved the Palestinian flag in the National Assembly, nothing more. This is simply freedom of expression. Mr. Biazar did not say anything that was a vector of hatred or went against the interests of the nation, especially since his remarks, made in Persian, were aimed at Iranian public opinion. I even took care to have them translated by a translator sworn by French justice, so that there is no ambiguity or misinterpretation. There was nothing that could justify such administrative detention which is, in my eyes, arbitrary.
Mr. Biazar is also accused of having filmed Iranian opponents in front of the Iranian embassy last September.
Absolutely, you are right to point that out. Mr. Biazar filmed, it is true, journalists from an opposition channel [Iran international, NDLR] who were, it seems to me, reporting on the fire that affected the Iranian consulate. These journalists were on public roads, in a professional setting. Mr. Biazar then filmed them while contradicting their comments which he found exaggerated. All this was translated by a sworn translator and was presented to the judge. Let me emphasize that my client did not endanger these journalists by revealing their identities in a private context. He only filmed them in the street.
READ ALSO Bashir Biazar affair: a standoff between France and Iran So what was your client doing inside the Iranian embassy?
Honestly, I don’t have any information on this. Now, we are not going to blame an Iranian citizen for being in the consulate of his country, which is a sovereign territory belonging to this country. The same applies to a French national abroad. We are not going to accuse him of being an agent of influence. He is free to enter or leave this building. I do not see where the problem is.
After initially contesting his expulsion from France, the Iranian authorities are now calling for him to return to Iran.
My client is in possession of Paris-Tehran plane tickets, which he purchased well before this detention measure. However, despite the availability of direct flights, despite Mr. Biazar’s wish to return to his country, although his family also demands that he be able to return and does not remain in detention without legitimate reason, we do not have to no response to date, neither from the prefecture nor from the Ministry of the Interior. We have no news: it is radio silence. Although I wrote to them again and contacted the prefect of Côte-d’Or as well as the Minister of the Interior, no one responded. This is abnormal and contrary to the Marianne charter which is displayed in all the prefectures of France.
How do you explain that your client has not been deported to date?
Sometimes, it is true that removal procedures can be a little long when the prefect experiences difficulties on the ground in removing foreign nationals, for example when the person does not have a valid passport and the you must contact your consulate to obtain a pass, or when you need to find a plane ticket to your country of origin. But in the case of Mr. Biazar, my client already has a ticket. His family, the embassy, the consulate and himself want him to leave the territory. So why is he prevented from doing so? If we blame him for things, tell us what it is. We have rights in France. We have sovereign justice. If he has committed offenses, simply let him be prosecuted.
Do you think that the case of Bashir Biazar is linked to that of the three French nationals still arbitrarily detained in Iran?
I read in the press what you say. As far as I am concerned, I have no information on this and I could not afford to say anything on this subject that is not true.
Do you think your client’s arrest is political?
I fear it, because I have found nothing legal in this case which could justify such deprivation of liberty of my client. But I cannot, however, as a lawyer, tell you this with certainty. If this is politics, then it has no place in law. Because it seems extremely serious to me to undermine fundamental freedoms, whatever the origin of the person. The laws of the Republic prohibit deprivation of liberty without legitimate reason. Moreover, allow me to emphasize that freedom is the rule in French law, and retention or detention the exception.
Do you understand that the highest authorities of the Islamic Republic are demanding the release of Bashir Biazar?
Like any sovereign state could claim the freedom of its national, independent of their status. What’s more, given the somewhat complicated relations between Iran and the Western world. France also sometimes demands the release of its nationals whom it considers illegitimately detained in other regions of the world. For me, this is completely normal, especially when it involves an attack on one’s freedom to come and go.
READ ALSO Joe Biden spares Iran… and annoys France Conversely, do you understand the silence of the French authorities on his case?
No, I don’t find this silence normal. I, as a lawyer, when I write to the French administration, to the prefect and to the minister, they are required to respond to me, even in the negative. Of course, my interest is that my client regains his freedom, but if he has done anything reprehensible, he will have to answer for his actions. But at this point I haven’t seen anything like that. As part of an administrative measure, there are rules and we must respect them, on both sides.
A complaint for “complicity in torture” was filed Thursday against your client by Iranian opponents. Does this change the situation?
I don’t have any information on this. If there are complaints, of course, the public prosecutor has jurisdiction in the matter and has the opportunity to initiate proceedings. If the complaint is founded and elements escape us, justice will investigate and we will see what it decides. But, at this stage, I have no information to give my opinion on this subject.
