Benjamin Briere, a French citizen, was
recently found not guilty by an Iranian appeals court, but he remains imprisoned
there, according to his lawyer on Thursday.
Briere was taken into custody in May 2020 and
given an eight-year prison term for espionage.
He is one of many foreigners who, according to
activists, Iran detained as part of a hostage-taking tactic to gain concessions
from the West.
Briere's French attorney, Philippe Valent,
said to AFP in a statement that an Iranian appeals court had dismissed all
accusations against his client and ordered his release on February 15.
The section of Iran's security forces tasked
with maintaining the system, the Revolutionary Guards, however, "are
keeping him imprisoned despite this statement of innocence," he claimed.
Contacted about Mr Briere's position, the
French foreign ministry stated that France "is pressing for the quick
release of all French nationals."
Briere, who is being held in the Vakilabad
prison in Mashhad, in eastern Iran, is continuing a hunger strike he began a
month ago and is "exhausted physically and mentally," according to
Valent.
The "arbitrary nature" of the
espionage accusations against his client, which Valent had previously called
"fantasy," was "blatantly clear," he claimed on Thursday.
Briere "was not present in the restricted
and sensitive regions of the country and did not capture any images or recordings"
of those locations, according to a copy of the appeals court order he provided
AFP.
He was described as "just a foreign
visitor" whose "personal items and equipment were not used for
espionage," according to the statement.
The verdict was for Mr Benjamin Briere's
acquittal because "there is not enough evidence to prove a crime," it
stated.
According to Valent, Briere's family is
calling for his immediate release.
His sister, Blandine Briere, told AFP that
"this situation is utterly unfathomable".
She said that in the hopes that things would
be settled amicably, the family had chosen earlier not to publish the appeals
court's decision.