French tourist who is jailed in Iran is on a hunger strike. 

PARIS – Benjamin Briere, a French tourist imprisoned in Iran on spying charges since the spring of 2020. Briere’s lawyer and sister confirmed that he had initiated the hunger strike in a statement released on Monday.

French authorities are still in close contact with Briere and visited Briere in December. 21 and in connection with Briere on Monday, an official with the French minister of foreign affairs spokesperson told.

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Since the beginning of May 2010, Briere has been in custody after he was detained for piloting a helical – an unmanned mini-copter controlled remotely in the desert close to the border between Turkmenistan and Iran.

He was charged with espionage as well as propaganda in support of Iranians and the Islamic Republic.

“The feeling of being abandoned – and a sense of despair – has led Benjamin Briere to begin a hunger strike to warn Iranian as well as French authorities of how absurd his imprisonment is,” his sister Blandine Briere and lawyer Philippe Valent said in an electronic statement.