On the day the Iranian government defused an international crisis by releasing 15 British sailors held captive since 23 March, a French newspaper revealed that Iran has also prevented a French scientist from leaving the country for more than 2 months. Sociologist Stéphane Dudoignon, of the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, was arrested on 30 January after taking photos of a religious procession in southeastern Iran. He was later released, but he has not received his passport and other documents and is stuck in Tehran.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs had kept Dudoignon’s detention under wraps, but confirmed it after it was reported today by the newspaper Le Monde. The French government says it has asked Iran to release Dudoignon, who also teaches at the Graduate School for Social Sciences Studies in Paris.
