The Frenchman Louis Arnaud, who has been detained in Iran since September 2022, arrived in France this morning after being released yesterday, reported AFP and BTA. The French television channel El Sey broadcast live his return to the homeland.
After shaking hands with French Foreign Minister Stéphane Sejournet, who was present at Le Bourget airport near Paris, he gave a long hug to his father and then to his mother, who had come to meet him.
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The ex-prisoner did not get straight into the ambulance that arrived at the scene. Visibly tired, but smiling, together with his relatives, he headed to a salon, out of reach of the cameras.
"I am very happy to welcome here one of our hostages who was arbitrarily detained in Iran," said Stéphane Sejournet, hailing "a wonderful diplomatic victory for France /.../ to get our compatriot out".
However, he noted that three French citizens were still being held in Iran. "Our diplomatic efforts are still mobilized" to secure their release, the minister said.
The other three French citizens still held in Iranian prisons are the couple Cécile Kohler and Jacques Parry, who were arrested in May 2022, and a Frenchman named Olivier, whose full name has not been released, AFP said.
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Thirty-six-year-old consultant Louis Arnaud is embarking on a round-the-world trip in July 2022 that will take him to Iran - "a country he has long dreamed of visiting because of its rich history and the warmth of its people," he said a few months ago his mother Sylvie Arnault.
In September 2022, he was arrested along with other Europeans accused of taking part in demonstrations following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurdish woman who died after being arrested by Iran's morality police, AFP noted.
His companions were released relatively quickly, but Louis Arnaud remained in prison and in November last year he was sentenced to five years in prison for propaganda and undermining the security of the Iranian state.
Two other Frenchmen, Benjamin Brier and Bernard Phelan, who also has Irish citizenship, were released just over a year ago, in May 2023, on "humanitarian grounds". By this time they were very emaciated and weakened by a hunger strike.
Iran has detained nearly 10 Western citizens and is accused by their supporters and non-governmental organizations of using them as bargaining chips in interstate negotiations, according to AFP.