Iran releases French tourist held since 2022, Macron says

President Emmanuel Macron said that Iranian authorities have been released for more than two years of French tourists and returned to France.

The 34 -year -old Olivier Grondeau is “free” and Macron added to X on Thursday as follows:

Grondeau was arrested in the southern Iran in October 2022 and was sentenced to five years in prison for “conspiracy to the Islamic Republic” for five years. His family always refused to prosecute.

The Iranian regime has arrested many tourists and dual people in recent years, and has been arrested for most of the time to monitor and national security.

Jean-Noel Barrot French Foreign Minister posted a photo of Grondeau on a plane returning home on Thursday.

“I took hostages in Iran for 887 days, and he reunited with family, loved ones, and nations.”

GRONDEAU, which was the first public speech since he was arrested in January, said that it is “being held hostage.”

His family described him as a passionate fan of Persian, who traveled to Iran as a tourist visa.

The other two French citizens are currently being held in Iran.

Teachers CECILE KOHLER and her partner, Jacques Paris, were detained in May 2022 and were accused of trying to stimulate the protests rejected by the family.

There is growing concern about their health, and France has repeatedly lobbied for release.

Macron said on Thursday, “Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris should be freed from Iran prison.”

Human rights groups say that tourists and doubles are often held for leverage in diplomatic negotiations, and Iran is released only when something is obtained in return.

The British Foreign Ministry confirmed last month that the British couple (Craig and Lindsay Forman) were detained.

They were prosecuted as espionage when Iran’s state -owned media were held in southeastern urban Common.

In January, Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, 29, returned to Rome after spending a few weeks from Iranian prison. According to the report, she said she was confined at Tehran’s infamous Evin prison.