SITREP Pod: Free Benjamin Briere, French hostage in Iran | Pod Hostage Diplomacy

SITREP Pod: Free Benjamin Briere, French hostage in Iran

SPEAKERS

Blandine Briere, Daren Nair

Daren Nair  00:05

Welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. We work to free hostages and the unjustly detained around the world. Together with their families, we share their stories and let you know how you can help bring them home.

Elizabeth Whelan  00:18

Now when it comes to using the family to get... for Russia to get what they want, if that's the case, they've picked the wrong family, because I'm not going to carry water for the Russian authorities.

Daren Nair  00:28

These are some of the most courageous and resilient people among us.

Mariam Claren  00:32

I never thought that my mother, Nahid Taghavi, will ever have a link to negotiations in Vienna about the JCPOA. That's so crazy.

Daren Nair  00:42

People who have never given up hope.

Paula Reed  00:43

Trevor told his girlfriend to tell me to... to be strong. So, I'm trying to be strong for Trevor. 

Joey Reed  00:43

You know, if Trevor can cope with what he's dealing with...

Paula Reed  00:43

Exactly.

Joey Reed  00:43

We can sure cope with the stress.

Daren Nair  00:44

People who will never stop working to reunite their families. 

Joey Reed  01:00

We'd like to meet with the President. We believe that, you know, he has... he's surrounded by lots of experienced and educated advisors. But I don't believe that any of them have ever had a child taken hostage by a foreign country, especially not a superpower like Russia.

Daren Nair  01:15

And we'll be right there by their side until their loved one comes back home. 

Richard Ratcliffe  01:20

Because if enough people care, then the right people will care enough. 

Daren Nair  01:24

I'm Daren Nair, and I've been campaigning with many of these families for years. When I first started campaigning with these families, I noticed they struggled to get the media attention they needed. So, I decided to create this podcast, which is a safe space for the families to speak as long as they need to about their loved ones and what needs to be done to bring them home.

Mariam Claren  01:45

Nobody can prepare you for what our family is going through. Even if someone had told me, one year before, in one year, this is going to happen, prepare yourself. That's impossible.

Daren Nair  01:59

Thank you for listening, and welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. Welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. French citizen and tourist, Benjamin Briere, has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran since May 2020. He is one of seven French citizens currently wrongfully imprisoned in the country, or prevented from leaving Iran. The French Foreign Ministry has referred to them as state hostages. Iran is notorious for arresting innocent foreign nationals on false charges and putting them in prison for years for the purpose of extracting concessions from their home country. This abhorrent practice is state-sponsored hostage-taking, also known as hostage diplomacy. Last month, on 28 January, Benjamin started a hunger strike, and his family are very concerned for his health. We had the honour of interviewing Benjamin's sister, Blandine Briere, in September last year. We tell all the families we interview that we'll keep campaigning by their side until their loved ones are back home, and we mean it. So, we'll keep you up to date on their cases through sitrep pods like this one, or breaking news pods. Today, we have the honour of speaking to Blandine Briere once again. Blandine, I'm so sorry for what you, your brother and your family are going through. Thank you for joining us once again. 

Blandine Briere  03:23

Thank you. 

Daren Nair  03:23

Blandine, for our listeners who haven't listened to our previous episode, can you please give them a summary of what happened to your brother, Benjamin, as in what he was doing in Iran, his arrest and where he has been detained?

Blandine Briere  03:36

Benjamin was travelling in Iran. He entered in Iran in December 2019 with his van. He was just a touring... tourist, visiting Iran with his van and just got arrested the end of May 2020 without any reason. And now he's has been judged and accused of being... of espionage and propaganda. So, he's now sentenced to eight years for espionage and eight months for propaganda without any reason.

Daren Nair  04:10

So sorry to hear that. This is... this is common in Iran, unfortunately. Since we last spoke in September last year, Blandine, many things have happened in Iran, as you know. There has been an ongoing revolution, sparked by the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by the Iranian Morality Police. During this period, many foreign nationals have been arrested and wrongfully imprisoned in Iran, including French nationals. And over two weeks ago, your brother started a hunger strike in prison to protest his wrongful detention. At the same time, you and the families of some other French hostages in Iran held a rally in Paris to urge the Iranian regime and the French government to secure their immediate release. Bernard Phelan, who is a French-Irish citizen, also wrongfully imprisoned in Iran, is in poor health as a result of complications from his own hunger strike, which he has ended recently. He needs urgent medical care. And most recently, on Friday 10 February, French academic, Fariba Adelkhah, who has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran since 5th June 2019, was released from Evin Prison. Now, the circumstances of her release are still not clear. We don't know if she can leave the country and return to France to be reunited with her loved ones. A lot has happened since we last spoke. Can you please tell us more about these events, If you can, and how they affect your brother?

Blandine Briere  05:40

Well, yes. Now there are seven. Now with Fariba is... there are six French hostages in Iran. So, we... there are many of us, many of them in Iran's jails. So, it's just really critical and inhuman, because they are all there without any reason. Yes, Benjamin started a hunger strike on the 28th of January just to... because this is the only way he has to... to protest against this injustice and to say that... that some... something needs to happen, and he needs to... to be free as soon as possible. And he's just fighting. He's just, yeah, he's... he tries to fight with... with that hunger striking, he is now ready to... to put his health in... in danger to protest and to... to... to have finally a kind of justice of obviously of freedom. Yeah. And we are, of course, really happy and... and relieved for... for Fariba and all the person who... who were working on... on this freedom. So, yes, she's now out of prison, and we... we are really happy for that, but looking forward to see her at home in France. And yeah, we actually did... we... we hold a rally on the 28th of January with the other French family we're okay to... to talk about this and to... to raise their voices for... for press, and... and everybody wanted to support us in Paris. So yeah, we were really touched about how many people were there to support us, how there... there were lots of press and medias who were supporting us as well. So, we need... we need this kind of mobilisation to... to continue to speak about these hostages unjustly detained, and to continue this... this fight and that no one's for... forgotten.

Daren Nair  07:55

That's a good thing to do. It's... it's... it means a lot to the families that are hostages, to know that their loved ones aren't forgotten, and that there's a world of care out there when, especially, when strangers from all walks of life show up to say they support you, and they want to bring your loved ones home. So, when was the last time you spoke to your brother, Benjamin, and how is he coping?

Blandine Briere  08:18

He... I used to have him every two or three weeks on the phone, but it's always depends on the... on his situation and the guards in the prison. It's really arbitrary as is his detention. So, I had him, like, it was 10 days ago, and he was just... he was okay. And he was really determinate about his hunger strike and he wants... and he will go further if needed, and he will put his health in danger to... to have something... something concrete... concrete element that can help him to... to... to, yeah, to see his freedom. He is really exhausted of that... of this situation. And he doesn't have any... any elements to focus on just to... to... to keep hoping of his freedom. So, it's really hard to... to stay aware and to stay alive, actually to have... Yeah, he is exhausted but still determined in his hunger strike.

Daren Nair  09:23

So, what should the Iranian authorities do?

Blandine Briere  09:25

They need all the hostages free. They need to free all... all the hostages that... That's the thing, because there are no reason for the incarceration for all of them. So, we just need our people back. It's just they are... We are just regular people with regular life, and we don't have anything... they don't have anything to see with those kinds of big issues of big pressure between countries. So yeah, we just need them to... to come back as soon as possible and in relatively good health, if possible, but still, after three... it's three years, it would be difficult for that. But still, yeah, we... they need to hurry. We need them back as soon as possible.

Daren Nair  10:14

So, what should the French government do?

Blandine Briere  10:17

The French government is... is mobilising of this... on this issue. For sure, it's a priority for them, and I know they are working for the citizens' freedom. We're sure about that, but still, we have, after three, nearly three years, we don't have any concrete elements. So, they obviously need to do more and to do concrete action, do concrete sanction... concrete, I don't know what. But we will have to have concrete elements to see their... their freedom. So, more needs to be done.

Daren Nair  10:58

What should the European Union do, Blandine, because I know you, and a few other European families with loved ones held hostage in Iran, published an open letter to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. This is Josep Borrell Fontelles, and you sent him that letter last year. Did you ever receive a response?

Blandine Briere  11:20

No, we didn't have any response from that letter. And nothing really concrete just happened after that. So, yeah, Iran is holding many European citizens in hostage, so something needs to be done on the European level for sure. But still, I'm still a regular person that doesn't know anything about that kind of issue and all solutions, finding solution in Europe, but something needs to be done on the higher level just to... Something needs to be done just to... to accelerate the process to be stronger with other countries, maybe. I'm not one to analyse and to give advice from this, but I know that Iran is holding many European citizens, and I'm pretty sure we have... we are strong, strong country that if we go... if we all... if we are all working together, we could... something could happen.

Daren Nair  12:31

So, I know you've been getting a bit more media attention recently, which is good. So, what can journalists and news editors do to help?

Blandine Briere  12:41

So... so yeah, journalists and medias in... in general are really helping us in... in that fight, and they are making sure no one forgot the hostage. They're making sure our message are important and listening by... by numbers of persons, so yeah, it's really kind of teamwork, because they are all... they're all care about our situation and just try to help us. So that's... We are... we are really thankful for... for their help just to not forget all the hostages.

Daren Nair  13:21

So, Blandine, what can the public do to help bring your brother home?

Blandine Briere  13:26

Unfortunately, there's nothing really to do, just... just sign petitions, share posts on... on the different networks, on, yeah, on internet shows, share... share their story to anyone you can. That's the only thing. Just make... make as noise as possible to... to make everyone... everyone knows those hostages' situation and injustice situation.

Daren Nair  13:58

Blandine, we're almost at the end of our interview. Is there anything else you'd like to mention?

Blandine Briere  14:03

We need really concrete action, so we need just to... to push our voice louder, louder and louder. Just to... Yeah, we need to make more noise about those situations to try to make them change, and I know it's not our... from our level that the change is gonna... gonna happen. But still, no one's need to forget the... the hostages.

Daren Nair  14:27

Blandine, we'll be right here by your side until your brother comes back home. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us today. 

Blandine Briere  14:30

Thank you.

Daren Nair  14:30

Thank you for listening to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. Thank you for giving your time and for showing these families that they're not alone, that there are good, caring people out there, willing to stand by their side and help in any way possible. 

Richard Ratcliffe  14:54

Because if enough people care then the right people will care enough. This is a basic rule of thumb that is true for all campaigning.

Daren Nair  15:03

If you haven't already, please subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter called The Hostage Briefing. It's the best way to keep up to date with the cases we're working on as well as new episodes. You can subscribe to this newsletter using the link in the description of this podcast episode that you're currently listening to. Thanks again and take care.