Siham al-Khouly
15 March 2021•Update: 15 March 2021
TEHRAN, Iran
Iran has charged a French tourist who has been jailed since May of last year over espionage and propaganda against Iran, according to local media on Monday
Iran Human Rights Activists News Agency quoted the lawyer Saied Dehgan as saying that his client Benjamin Briere was charged on Sunday with two counts of "espionage and propaganda against the Islamic Republic”.
Dehgan also said Briere has been held in Vakilabad prison in Mashhad city in northeastern Iran for 10 months.
Briere is in contact with the French Embassy and is provided French consular protection, the lawyer added.
Tehran says Briere has taken photographs of a forbidden area on the Turkmenistan-Iran borders and criticized the hijab, a headscarf that is mandatory in Iran unlike many other Islamic countries.
*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara
