Paris condemns arrest of French academic in Iran

The French Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, condemned the arrest of second French academic, Roland Marchal in Iran, describing the development as unacceptable.

According to the French newspaper, Le Monde, the political scientist, Marchal, was arrested in June at the same time as the French-Iranian academic, Fariba Adelkhah.

However, the newspaper said his arrest had not been made public as French authorities were seeking to work discreetly for his release. It is not clear what either of the academic has been accused of.

Marchal’s arrest was first revealed by a French newspaper, Le Figaro in an article published Tuesday evening about the capture of a dissident living in France, Rouhollah Zam, by Iranian authorities

The French Foreign Ministry also condemned the arrest of Zam, who it said left France of his own free will on Oct. 11.

The arrests came as French President, Emmanuel Macron sought to broker a deal between Iran and the United States.

The development followed after the latter pulled out of a 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme and slapped harsh sanctions on Tehran.