France Summons Iranian Ambassador Over Detained Researchers

France’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador to demand the release of two French researchers jailed in Tehran. Paris described as “unacceptable” the months-long detention of Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal, while expressing “extreme concern” over the former’s decision to go on a hunger strike. Adelkhah, who has been charged with espionage, is a renowned anthropologist who has traveled frequently to Iran to research the country’s post-revolutionary society. She has been joined on her hunger strike by Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who has been languishing in prison for 14 months. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly been accused of detaining foreigners on trumped-up charges, a move many analysts view as an attempt by the regime to increase leverage over the West, especially with regard to the nuclear stand-off. In October, Tehran announced that it had arrested and sentenced to death 17 people for allegedly spying on behalf of the CIA. At the time, US President Donald Trump denounced the claim as “totally false.”