Iran Rejects Macron’s Call for Release of French Inmates

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi has dismissed the meddlesome comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron regarding the release of two French nationals.

“The French should not forget that Iran is a sovereign state. Neither our government nor the judiciary will take any advice from anyone,” Mousavi said on Wednesday in a tweet posted both in Persian and French.

“Any interference in Iran’s domestic matters is unacceptable to us,” he added.

On Tuesday, Macron said the imprisonment of two French nationals in Iran was unbearable and demanded their immediate release.

“On Human Rights Day, my thoughts go to Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal, our compatriots held in Iran, and their families,” Macron said on Twitter.

“Their imprisonment is intolerable. They must be freed without delay. I told President Rouhani, I repeat it here,” he wrote.

Adelkhah, a 60-year-old anthropologist and researcher at Sciences Po’s Center for International Studies (CERI) in Paris, and her colleague Marchal were arrested in Iran in June on espionage charge.

In October, Mousavi said that Iran’s national law does not recognize the dual citizenship of Iranian citizens, and thus Adelkhah is regarded as an Iranian national.

Macron’s appeal followed a prisoner swap at the weekend between Iran and the United States.

IFP Editorial Staff

The IFP Editorial Staff is composed of dozens of skilled journalists, news-writers, and analysts whose works are edited and published by experienced editors specialized in Iran News. The editor of each IFP Service is responsible for the report published by the Iran Front Page (IFP) news website, and can be contacted through the ways mentioned in the "IFP Editorial Staff" section.