Free Benjamin Briere, French hostage in Iran | Pod Hostage Diplomacy

POD HOSTAGE DIPLOMACY

French citizen and tourist, Benjamin Briere has been held hostage in Iran since May 2020. He has been sentenced to eight years in prison for a crime he did not commit. On the day of his sentencing, the French Foreign Ministry stated that Benjamin’s “completely groundless sentence is unacceptable.” He is one of four known French citizens currently held hostage in Iran.

On this episode, we have the honour of speaking to Benjamin’s sister, Blandine Briere to find out what we can do to help bring him back home to France. Blandine walks us through Benjamin’s disappearance when he was in Iran, finding out he had been arrested and placed in solitary confinement for over a month, his hunger strike in prison, his unfair trial as well as how Benjamin and Blandine have both been coping with this trauma.

We also discuss what the Iranian authorities, French government and European Union should do. As part of this conversation, we discuss the open letter Blandine and the families of other European hostages in Iran wrote to Josep Borrell Fontelles, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. We then end this episode talking about how journalists and the public can help bring Benjamin home.
If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.
For more information on Benjamin Briere, please check out the following:

• Free Benjamin Briere petition
• Free Benjamin Instagram account
• Blandine Briere's Twitter account
• Social media hashtag: FreeBen

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1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. Who is Benjamin Briere? (00:02:06)

3. What happened to Benjamin? (00:03:13)

4. The conditions of Benjamin’s detention (00:04:53)

5. Does Benjamin have any medical conditions? (00:06:47)

6. Hunger strike (00:07:27)

7. Access to a lawyer (00:08:27)

8. Benjamin’s unfair trial (00:09:08)

9. How is Benjamin doing? (00:12:22)

10. How has Blandine been coping with this trauma? (00:13:24)

11. What should the Iranian authorities do? (00:14:46)

12. What should the French government do? (00:16:01)

13. What would you say to French President Macron? (00:17:10)

14. French equivalent of US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs? (00:18:59)

15. What should the European Union do? (00:21:12)

16. What can journalists do to help? (00:23:39)

17. What can the public do to help? (00:25:39)