Some 200 people, including Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, gathered on Saturday in front of the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) in Paris to demand the release of Louis Arnaud, a French national detained “arbitrarily” for a year in Iran, an AFP journalist said.
Louis Arnaud, 36, is a passionate traveler who visited Iran in July 2022 as part of his dream to discover the Silk Road.
He was arrested on September 28, 2022 in Tehran with friends who were also arrested but were later released.
“It's a non-political gathering intended to support Louis and all those who are in his situation,” his mother, Sylvie Arnaud, told AFP referring to Western victims of “hostage diplomacy” in Tehran.
Iran detains more than a dozen Western nationals, most of them dual nationals, and is accused by their supporters and NGOs of using them as bargaining chips in negotiations.
Last May, Iran released Olivier Vandecasteele, who had been detained in Iran for more than a year, in exchange for convicted terrorist Assadollah Assadi, who had been imprisoned in Belgium.
The Belgian aid worker, who had met Louis Arnaud at Evin prison, called on his family and support committee on Saturday to “demand more” from the government.
Arnaud’s family members praised his courage and resistance. “Louis, we support you, we call for your immediate and unconditional release,” they said.
Asked about the physical and mental health of her son, Sylvie said, “He is hanging on.”
She added, “We know where he is. He can sleep, eat.”
In addition to Arnaud, three Frenchmen, whom Paris describes as “state hostages,” are still detained in Iran: French teacher Cécile Kohler and her companion Jacques Paris, arrested in May 2022 for “espionage,” and another whose identity has not been disclosed.
