It is because all diplomatic negotiations have failed that the third French hostage in Iran decided on Monday January 13 to break his silence and reveal his identity. From the terrible Evin prison in Tehran, where he has languished for more than two years, Olivier Grondeau managed to send a message to Radio France, a moving call for help when they are at the end of their strength. The three French hostages, Olivier Grondeau, but also the teacher Cécile Kohler and her companion Jacques Paris, “state hostages” denounced by the Quai d’Orsay, are officially imprisoned for “espionage”. The accusation, always the same with which the Iranian regime arrests and imprisons foreign or binational citizens, to put pressure on the international community. A strategy of “hostage diplomacy” in the face of which Westerners seem quite powerless. How to get out of this sordid standoff?
With :
– Chirinne Ardakanilawyer for Olivier Grondeau, and president of the Iran Justice collective
– Clément Thermelecturer at Paul Valery University in Montpellier, author of the article “The diplomacy of the Tehran hostages. The case of Europeans detained in Iran”, published on the website of IFRI (French Institute of International Relations)
