French citizen Olivier Grondo, who was imprisoned in Iran for more than 880 days, has been released and returned home, as has another French citizen who was under house arrest in Tehran, French officials said today.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Grondo had been released. The French Foreign Ministry said that another French citizen who had been under house arrest in Tehran for more than four months was released on Wednesday evening, but he asked not to be identified.
His lawyer in France, Shirin Ardakani, said he returned to Paris on Monday. "He is in good hands. He is recovering," he told The Associated Press. An Iranian court sentenced Grondo to five years in prison on espionage charges that he, his family and the French government have vehemently denied.
The release came on the eve of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, when Iran has in the past freed prisoners.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France had given nothing in exchange for Grondo's release. Barrot told French TV station TF1 that he had initially discussed the situation with the Iranian foreign minister, but when those talks failed to secure his release, "we came to this in another way."
The release of Westerners in Iran usually comes in exchange for something. Tehran did not immediately acknowledge Grondo's release.
Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said France had arrested an Iranian woman who supported the Palestinians, but said Tehran was still trying to gather more details about her case.
While the exact details of what prompted Grondo's arrest remain unclear, his detention began chaotically following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died after being detained for not wearing the mandatory Iranian headscarf, or hijab, as requested by authorities.
Grondo was held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, which houses Westerners, dual citizens and political prisoners who Tehran often uses as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West.
Barrot said France was continuing to pressure Iran to release two other French citizens held in Iran, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who have been imprisoned for more than 1.000 days.
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