French citizen imprisoned in Iran for five years; family insists he was only traveling

 French citizen imprisoned in Iran for five years; family insists he was only traveling

The financial expert Louis Arnaud was arrested in Iran in September of last year and is being incarcerated at the Evin jail in Tehran.

A French man facing allegations related to national security has been sentenced to five years in prison by an Iranian court, his family said on Wednesday.

The financial expert Louis Arnaud was arrested in Iran in September of last year and is being incarcerated at the Evin jail in Tehran.

The family released a statement after Arnaud was found guilty by a Revolutionary Court of spreading false information against and attempting to jeopardize the security of the Islamic republic.

The family blasted the decision as "an attack on human rights and individual freedoms" and declared Arnaud innocent of all accusations.

According to the statement, Arnaud was a "passionate traveler" who had been hoping to see Iran for a long time.

"Unfortunately, his dream descended into a nightmare when he was wrongly targeted, imprisoned, and recently convicted on baseless charges, stripped him of his freedom and rights."

Regarding the protest movement that broke out in September 2022, it was said that he had "kept a distance from the social movements that were starting" when he was in Iran.

"At no time did he act alongside political intentions or carelessness."

The family also said that Arnaud has filed an appeal against the decision.

The Iranian Court has not officially announced the decision or the verdict has not yet been published by the Iranian media.

Arnaud is one of at least a dozen foreign people detained by Tehran in what Western governments and campaigners have characterized as a calculated hostage-taking operation meant to pressure the West into making concessions.

In recent months, a number of foreign inmates have been liberated; among them are five Americans who were set free in a convoluted deal for billions of dollars' worth of Iranian cash that were blocked in a South Korean account.

Following their health declines during hunger strikes, French inmates Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan—the latter an Irish national—were released by Iran in May. After being detained for four and a half years, French-Iranian scholar Fariba Adelkhah was ultimately released in October and returned to France.

Except for Arnaud, however, Iran is detaining three other French nationals: educator Cecile Kohler, her companion Jacques Paris, and a guy known only by his first name, Olivier.