A French citizen who spent over two years in detention in Iran on spying charges was released this week, the French government said on Thursday.
President Emmanuel Macron of France had earlier denounced Iran’s detention of the man, Olivier Grondeau, 34, and two other French citizens as “disgraceful and arbitrary.”
Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s foreign minister, on Thursday described Mr. Grondeau’s release as a “huge relief” and said it was the result of “tireless work” by French diplomats, although it was unclear what exactly that involved.
Western countries have accused Iran of detaining people to use them as diplomatic bargaining chips to press for the release of Iranian prisoners abroad or to free frozen funds.
In January, an Iranian engineer whom Italy had detained on an American extradition request was freed shortly after Iran released an Italian journalist from prison. And as part of a prisoner swap in 2020, France secured the release of an academic who had been held in Iran on national security charges.
Mr. Grondeau was detained in October 2022 while visiting Iran on a tourist visa. In February of last year, the Iranian authorities sentenced him to five years in prison on spying charges — accusations that Mr. Grondeau and the French government strenuously rejected.
In January, French radio published an audio recording from Mr. Grondeau’s prison cell in Tehran. In the recording, Mr. Grondeau said that he and others being held in Iran were “at the heart of political blackmail that has nothing to do with us, and leaves us at our wits’ end.”
An advocacy group created to secure his release said at the time that Mr. Grondeau was facing “significant deterioration of his psychological health” and that the detention conditions were “destroying hm a little more each day.”
On Monday evening, footage filmed by the broadcaster TF1 showed Mr. Grondeau arriving at Le Bourget airport, north of Paris, where he was greeted by Mr. Barrot.
Mr. Macron said on X, “We share his family’s immense joy and relief.”
Two other French citizens in Iranian custody, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, have been detained for nearly three years on similar spying charges. Mr. Barrot vowed on Thursday that France would be “relentless in our efforts to secure the release of all our compatriots still held hostage.”
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