Iran sentences French academic to six years in prison, lawyer says

The 60-year-old anthropologist intends to launch an appeal

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 19, 2012 and released on July 16, 2019 by Sciences Po university, Franch-Iranian academic Adelkhah Fariba is pictured at an undisclosed location. Adelkhah, jailed in Iran since last year, has been transferred to a prison hospital after her health deteriorated following a hunger strike, her lawyer said on February 25, 2020. The academic ended a six-week hunger strike on February 12 as she awaits trial on charges including conspiring against national security. Adelkhah, a specialist in Shiite Islam and a research director at Sciences Po University in Paris, was arrested in June 2019 and is being held in Evin prison in Tehran.
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Iran sentenced a French-Iranian academic to six years in prison on national security charges on Saturday, her lawyer said.

Fariba Adelkhah was "sentenced to five years for gathering and conspiring against national security, and one year for propaganda against the Islamic republic," Said Dehghan said.

He said his client would only be expected to serve the longer, five-year jail term and that she intended to appeal against the verdict.

There was no immediate French reaction to the verdict.

Iran dropped spying charges against Adelkhah but she remained in jail on other security-related charges, Dehghan said in March.

Iran has rejected France's call to release Adelkhah, a 60-year-old anthropologist who has been detained since June 2019, saying the demand is an interference in Tehran's internal affairs.

Tehran does not recognise dual nationality.

In March, Iran released Adelkhah's partner, French academic Roland Marchal, who was imprisoned in Iran since June last year.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals over recent years, mostly on espionage charges.