Iran raps France ‘interference’ in case of spying suspect

The Iranian ambassador”was reminded of France’s demand that Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal are released without delay,” France’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday. 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Sunday, “The French Foreign Ministry’s statement on an Iranian citizen is an interventionist action.”

“And we consider the French request to have no legal basis because the intended person (Ms. Adelkhah) is an Iranian national who has been detained on charges of committing spying acts,” he added.  

The suspect’s lawyer, Mousavi said, has been informed of the details of the case and his case is being investigated by the Judiciary.

The spokesman also touched on the case of the French national, identified by French authorities as Roland Marchal, who is being held on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security.”

“He has had consular access several times so far, and his lawyer is informed of the charges and in contact with judicial authorities,” Mousavi added. 

Paris said on Friday Iran’s Ambassador to France Bahram Qasemi had been reminded that “the Iranian authorities show total transparency” over the situation of the two detainees. 

“As President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian have said on several occasions, their imprisonment is intolerable,” Agence France-Presse quoted the statement as saying. 

Mousavi said, “Creating hype cannot prevent these cases from being processed by the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially in relation to the security charges brought against these two individuals.”