Tehran Nears Exchange Deal As France Holds Iranian Professor Over Gaza Posts
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said a deal to exchange French prisoners in Iran for an Iranian citizen imprisoned in France is nearing completion.
The proposed swap involves Mahdieh Esfandiari, 39, who has been held in a detention facility near Paris since February 28 after posting messages on Telegram condemning Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Esfandiari has been locked up in one of France’s notorious prisons for six weeks. During that time, French police and judiciary authorities denied her family any contact for two weeks.
"We have carried out a great deal of activity, and I can now say that we have reached the point where the exchange of the French prisoners in Iran is now approaching its final stages," Araqchi said in a televised interview on Thursday night.
Iran has repeatedly demanded her release, stressing that she has been unjustly detained.
According to her friends and family, French security forces raided her home on February 28, conducting a thorough search before taking her away in an incident eerily resembling as a kidnapping.
For two days after her arrest, her whereabouts were concealed. Only after repeated follow-ups by her family did authorities confirm she was in police custody.
She was then transferred to Fresnes prison, outside Paris, some 470 kilometers from her residence. The distance has made it nearly impossible for her family and friends to support her or follow up on her case.
Esfandiari, a linguist with a degree in French from Lumiere University, has lived in Lyon for eight years, working as a professor, translator, and interpreter.
Despite appeals, French authorities withheld information from the Iranian foreign ministry for a full month after her arrest.
Meanwhile, Iran has detained two French nationals — Cecile Kohler, 40, and Jacques Paris, in his 70s — since May 7, 2022, on charges of spying for Israel.
