Fariba Adelkhah, a French-Iranian academic, has been released from an Iranian prison

• Fariba Adelkhah was imprisoned in Teheran for more than three years.
• Fariba Adelkhah was sentenced to five years in prison for plotting against national security and one year for propaganda.
• She was investigating the travel of Shia clergy between Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.

According to France’s foreign ministry, an Iranian-French academic who had been imprisoned in Teheran for more than three years has been released.

In 2020, Fariba Adelkhah was sentenced to five years in prison for plotting against national security and one year for propaganda, both of which she denied.

Her university, SciencesPo in Paris, announced the news “with happiness and relief”.

Ms Adelkhah’s supporters have always strenuously contested the claims against her, claiming that the academic has been wrongfully imprisoned.

The researcher is an expert in post-revolutionary Iran’s social and political anthropology, and she has produced several books, including Revolution under the Veil: Islamic Women of Iran.

She was investigating the travel of Shia clergy between Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq at the time of her detention in June 2019, and had spent time in the holy city of Qom.

In a statement, France’s foreign ministry claimed Ms. Adelkhah had been “unjustly detained” at Tehran’s Evin jail.

“It is critical that Fariba Adelkhah regain all of her freedoms, including the right to return to France if she so desires,” the statement continued.

SciencesPo stated in a tweet: “We are delighted and relieved to announce the liberation of our dear colleague Fariba Adelkhah, who has been arbitrarily incarcerated in Iran for more than three years.

“Hostage of the local authorities, she was a scientific prisoner.

“Thank you to everyone who made his release possible.”

Iran has arrested scores of foreign and dual nationals on national security grounds in recent years. The Iranian government does not recognize dual citizenship for Iranian people.

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