It has been more than three hundred days since Louis Arnaud, a 35-year-old consultant who traveled on the Silk Road, has been detained in Iran. A petition calling for his release has collected more than 100,000 signatures in two weeks, his support committee announced on Tuesday (August 1st), which urges the French government “to intensify its efforts” for his release.
“We are making this appeal from the heart in order to come to the aid of Louis Arnaud, our friend, our brother, our son”, can we read on this petition posted online on July 16 and which has collected 100,282 signatures to date.
“Louis is a travel enthusiast who embarked on a journey in July to fulfill his dream of traveling the Silk Road by land and sea. However, on September 28, 2022, his trip took a dramatic turn when he was arrested along with other travelers he met on the roads,” the support committee wrote in a statement on Tuesday. His relatives specify that Mr. Arnaud “made the deliberate choice to avoid the plane, thus affirming his ecological commitment during his journey”.
‘No founded charges’
In a previous statement, the committee said that “Louis and fellow European travelers stayed away from the protests that began in mid-September [in Iran] after they had already been in the country for several weeks.” The travelers were “going to an escape game site to celebrate the birthday of one of them when they were suddenly arrested and taken to Evin prison in Tehran”.
While his fellow European travelers have since been released, “Louis is still being held in Evin Prison, without any substantiated charges brought against him.” “Faced with this worrying situation, we appeal to our government and its diplomacy to intensify their efforts for the release of Louis”, urges the support committee, which is concerned about the “psychological and physical consequences irreversible consequences that this prolonged detention could have on Louis”.
A dozen Western nationals detained
The Islamic Republic of Iran detains more than a dozen Western nationals, most of them dual nationals, and it is accused by the supporters of prisoners and NGOs of using them as bargaining chips in negotiations.
In addition to Mr. Arnaud, three French people, whom Paris describes as “State hostages”, are still being held in Iran: a French teacher, Cécile Kohler, and her companion Jacques Paris, arrested in May 2022 for “espionage”, and a another person whose identity has not been disclosed.
The Franco-Iranian researcher, Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in 2019 and then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, was released on February 10 but is prohibited from leaving Iranian territory.