5 June 2020 has marked a very sad anniversary: our colleague and friend, Fariba Adelkhah, a researcher at Sciences Po’s Centre for International Studies, has now been imprisoned without motive in Iran for one year.

For one year she has fought with courage, tenacity and unfailing dignity, deserving of our utmost admiration.

Over the course of this year of incarceration, Fariba’s health has been weakened, particularly as a result of a several week-long hunger strike. It remains threatened today by the Covid-19 epidemic, still rife in Iran. Nevertheless, with characteristic generosity, Fariba continues to be actively involved with fellow inmates of Tehran’s Evin Prison. She offers French classes and has been put in charge of running the prison library.

The liberation of our colleague Roland Marchal and his repatriation on the 20 March constituted a first victory in this story. Marchal’s release was made possible by the intervention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French authorities as a whole and by numerous initiatives on the part of the Fariba Adelkhah & Roland Marchal Support Committee. All our efforts are now turned towards the hope of securing freedom for Fariba.

The verdict of Fariba’s trial on the 16 May sentenced her to six years in prison: five years for “conspiring to undermine national security” and one year for “propaganda against the system”. This heavy sentence is not founded on any serious grounds. Rather, it is political in nature, as French authorities have affirmed in a statement on the matter. This sentence is not yet definitive as it awaits examination by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. 

Now more than ever, we must redouble our efforts and work tirelessly to support our colleague and friend, by calling for her immediate release.

Fariba can rest assured of the support of a huge number of organisations, including the City Councils of Paris and Strasbourg, where she completed her studies, both of whom have been active in campaigning on her behalf since the beginning of her imprisonment. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ms Shirin Ebadi, has also wished to affirm her support for Fariba’s cause and that of numerous other political prisoners detained in Iran. Her message is a fervent call for their freedom, in the name of fundamental human rights.

Fariba Adelkhah knows that we are with her in thought and that we will continue to be so until the day she is freed. Her fight is our fight.

Olivier Duhamel, President of the Fondation nationale des sciences politiques (FNSP)

Frédéric Mion, President of Sciences Po

More

• Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, Calls for Fariba Adelkhah's Liberation

• Freedom for Fariba, Freedom for Research, by Alain Dieckhoff, CERI director
• Join the Support Committee