Frenchman Olivier Grondeau Freed From Iranian Jail

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A French citizen imprisoned in Iran for over 880 days has been freed, French officers mentioned Thursday.

The discharge of Olivier Grondeau comes as France and the remainder of Europe attempt to pursue negotiations with Iran over its quickly advancing nuclear program.

U.S. President Donald Trump in the meantime has despatched his personal letter to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to jumpstart talks. Trump can also be pressuring Tehran over its help of Yemen’s Houthi rebels because the American navy has launched an intense new marketing campaign of airstrikes concentrating on the group.

In going public together with his detention in January, Grondeau alluded to the politics at play in his imprisonment.

“You turn into a human who has been stocked away indefinitely as a result of one authorities is looking for to exert stress on one other,” he mentioned.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on-line that Grondeau had been freed. He provided no quick particulars of what led to Grondeau’s launch, although it got here on Nowruz, the Persian New Yr, when Iran has launched prisoners previously.

Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s minister for Europe and overseas affairs, posted an image on-line of Grondeau smiling aboard what seemed to be a non-public jet.

“We’ll tirelessly proceed our efforts to make sure that all our compatriots nonetheless held hostage, together with Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, are in flip launched,” Barrot wrote.

Macron additionally raised their instances.

“Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris should be free of Iranian jails,” he wrote. “All my ideas are with them and their households on today.”

Iran doesn’t acknowledge launch

The Iranian authorities didn’t instantly acknowledge Grondeau’s launch. Such releases of Westerners in Iran sometimes are available change for one thing. Earlier this week, International Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei mentioned France had arrested an Iranian girl who supported Palestinians, however mentioned Tehran was nonetheless making an attempt to collect extra particulars about her case.

On Grondeau’s lap within the picture from the non-public jet was a plastic-wrapped T-shirt bearing an image of the pop star Britney Spears, one thing officers didn’t acknowledge in welcoming Grondeau’s launch. He put it on earlier than getting off the aircraft and embracing his household on returning residence, in footage aired by French broadcaster TF1.

France’s overseas minister was there, too. “Bravo on your braveness,” he informed Grondeau.

His mom had described the previous youth Scrabble champion as a fan of Beyoncé and karaoke in interviews with French media after he and his household went public together with his detention in January.

Grondeau was detained by Iranian authorities in October 2022 within the metropolis of Shiraz.

Arrest got here throughout Mahsa Amini protests

Although the precise particulars of what sparked Iran’s arrest of Grondeau stay unclear, his detention started within the chaotic aftermath of the demise of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl who died after being detained over not sporting Iran’s necessary headband, or hijab, to the liking of authorities. United Nations investigators later mentioned Iran was accountable for the “bodily violence” that led to her demise, which sparked months of protests and a bloody safety pressure crackdown within the nation.

“Many of the questions had been, ‘Did you participate in an illustration,’ ‘Checklist all the Iranians that you simply met throughout your journey,’ ‘Why did you come to Iran?’ ‘You’re not a vacationer,’” Grondeau mentioned in a cellphone name aired with French broadcaster France 2 in January after going public together with his case.