French man jailed in Iran stops hunger strike, family says

Benjamin Briere's starvation protest lasted 35 days and he lost 13kg, his lawyer said on Twitter

French national Benjamin Briere. AFP

A French man convicted in Iran on spying charges, which he has strenuously denied, has ended a hunger strike in prison after refusing food for more than a month, his family said on Tuesday.

Benjamin Briere, 36, was sentenced by an Iranian court last week to eight years in jail.

Mr Briere began the hunger strike at Christmas to protest against the conditions of his detainment and the lack of any progress in his legal proceedings after he was arrested in 2020.

"He has stopped his hunger strike," his sister Blandine Briere told AFP. "I asked him to, given how it was developing. And he knows he needs strength to continue his struggle."

Mr Briere, who is being held at the Vakilabad jail in the eastern city of Mashhad, was arrested in May 2020 after taking pictures in a national park with a recreational drone.

The French Foreign Ministry has described the verdict as "unacceptable", saying he was a "tourist".

Mr Briere's Iranian lawyer, Saeid Dehghan, wrote on Twitter that his client's hunger strike had lasted 35 days and that he had lost 13 kilograms.

He is one of more than a dozen western citizens described as hostages by activists, who say they are innocent of any crime and detained by the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to extract concessions from the West.

Iran and world powers are seeking to reach an agreement at talks in Vienna on reviving a 2015 deal to curb the Iranian nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of sanctions.

Ms Briere said her brother was keeping up hope after his situation — along with that of French academic Fariba Adelkhah, who is also detained in Iran — was raised by President Emmanuel Macron in phone talks with Iranian leader Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday.

Mr Macron urged the "immediate release" of both French citizens, the presidency said.

"It gives hope but we will continue to fight until he is on a plane for France," Ms Briere said.