Louis Arnaud, a French citizen who was released from Iran’s Evin Prison last June after two years of detention, spoke about his arrest, imprisonment, and release in his first media interview since his release.
He was arrested during the nationwide protests in 2022 and sentenced to five years in prison by the regime’s judiciary on security-related charges.
Louis Arnaud, who was held in solitary confinement for an extended period, told France 24 television that the authorities do everything to destroy the personality, dignity, and human identity of the detainee.
According to Louis Arnaud, the Iranian regime has taken seven French citizens hostage in recent years, three of whom remain imprisoned in Iran.
Expressing regret over the continued detention of these French citizens, he noted that several other foreign hostages, including Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian-Swedish citizen sentenced to death, are also imprisoned by the Iranian regime.
Louis Arnaud went on to describe his difficult conditions in prison, including his detention in the secretive Ward 209, which he said is a well-known location among Iranians.
He stated that he was confined in a small, eight-square-meter cell with no windows and a light that remained on 24/7, constantly monitored by cameras.
According to Louis Arnaud, prison officers under the regime treat inmates like “animals” and take every measure to break their spirit.
He further explained that in such a cell, prisoners are cut off from their families, friends, and the outside world, hearing only the cries, groans, and screams of other detainees.
Louis Arnaud stated that he spent six months in this cell, during which he was only able to make three phone calls to his family and French officials under strict security supervision. The authorities dictated to him what he was allowed to say.
Louis Arnaud said that the officers are “masters” of torture, using both physical and psychological methods to drive prisoners to the point where they would confess to anything the authorities demanded.
He further added that the six months he spent in solitary confinement felt like six years and were an unending nightmare.
Louis Arnaud noted that thousands of Iranians opposed to the regime are also imprisoned and subjected to brutal physical and psychological torture. The regime has executed some of them, while others are on the brink of execution.
The three other French prisoners are Cécile Kohler, her partner Jacques Paris, and a man named Olivier Grondeau.
In May of this year, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the detention of these four individuals as “state hostage-taking” and “continuous extortion” by the Iranian regime, strongly condemning this action.
The Iranian regime seeks to extort other countries by detaining foreign nationals. The ruling clerics in Iran have pursued this policy since coming to power to achieve their objectives.
