Iranian authorities have released French citizen Olivier Grondeau, who had been detained since October 2022 on security charges, and he has returned to France, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday.
Grondeau, 34, "is free and with his loved ones," Macron posted on X. He added that "our mobilisation will not weaken" to ensure the release of two other French citizens still detained by Iran, which Paris perceives as state hostage-taking.
Grondeau arrived in France on Monday evening following an almost 900-day ordeal, according to the Elysee Palace and a diplomatic source who spoke to AFP.
No further details regarding the circumstances of Grondeau's release were disclosed. Grondeau, hailing from Montpellier in southern France, is currently in hospital undergoing a battery of tests, as he has been severely weakened in recent months, particularly psychologically, a government source informed AFP, requesting anonymity.
"It is a great joy to have Olivier back, as he is innocent of all charges and has always belonged among us," his French lawyer, Chirinne Ardakani, told AFP.
‘Hostage’
Western nations have accused Iran for years of detaining their nationals on fabricated charges as part of a state hostage-taking strategy, in order to utilise them as bargaining chips for concessions.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot shared a photograph of a smiling Grondeau on a plane returning home.
"Held hostage in Iran for 887 days, he has been reunited with his family, loved ones, and his country. It is a huge relief," Barrot remarked on X.
Grondeau, who is set to turn 35 next week, was arrested in Shiraz, southern Iran, in October 2022 and sentenced to five years in prison for "conspiracy against the Islamic republic."
His family has denounced the charges, characterising Grondeau as a passionate admirer of Persian poetry who travelled to Iran on a tourist visa as part of a world tour.
France refers to its nationals detained by Iran as "state hostages" who have been arbitrarily imprisoned and are innocent of all charges against them.
Two more are in jail
Until earlier this year, Grondeau was identified only by his first name, but his full identity was revealed by his family in January.
In an audio message broadcast by French media at the time, Grondeau stated that he and the other two French detainees in Iran were "exhausted" and their strength was "running out."
There has been increasing concern regarding the health of the two other French citizens held by Iran, with Kohler's family warning that they were at risk of dying if not released.
"Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris must be freed from Iranian prisons," Macron asserted in his message.
Ardakani, who also represents Kohler, underscored the necessity of continuing the fight for the two French nationals still imprisoned in Iran.
"Their jailers will have to answer for their criminal acts, including before the French courts," she stated.
"I am thinking of my client, still incarcerated in section 209 of Evin prison," she added, noting that Kohler has been held in a windowless cell measuring just eight square metres (86 square feet) "under continuous video surveillance" and has been forced to sleep on the floor.
They are "dying a slow death," Cecile's sister Noemie Kohler remarked in early March. Another French detainee, Louis Arnaud, who has been held in Iran since September 2022, was released in June 2024.
