France breached treaty in Iran prisoner swap, says US
Washington protests at Macron decision to release engineer it wanted to try on sanctions charges
THE Trump administration yesterday criticised France’s decision to free a man wanted on sanctions charges in the US in a prisoner swap deal.
The US state department said it
“deeply regrets” the French decision to release Jalal Ruhollahnejad, the subject of a US extradition request on charges of violating its sanctions on Iran.
The 41-year-old Iranian engineer was released from French custody on Friday in an apparent swap for French academic Roland Marchal, detained in Iran for more than eight months on charges of violating state security laws.
“There are multiple outstanding US charges against him [Mr Ruhollahnejad] related to the illegal export of equipment with military applications in violation of US sanctions,” the state department said.
“The US and France have a shared interest in bringing those accused of serious crimes to justice, particularly in cases with national security implications. It is regrettable in this instance that France failed to uphold its treaty obligations and prevented justice from being pursued,” it added.
Iranian state television reported on Friday that Mr Marchal had been freed, hours after French authorities released Mr Ruhollahnejad. It said France had planned to deliver Mr Ruhollahnejad, who had been in custody for more than a year, to the US.
The release came after a number of international prisoners in Iran were given temporary leave from jail as coronavirus reportedly swept through the country’s jail system.
Among those let out was Nazanin Zaghari-ratcliffe, the British-iranian dual national who worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, and has been the subject of British demands for her release. She has been confined to her parents’ home in Tehran wearing an ankle tag on a two-week release order as a result of the outbreak.
US investigators suspect Mr Ruhollahnejad of trying to import into Iran high-powered industrial microwave systems from the United States that could be used for military purposes.
It is alleged that he acted on behalf of a company linked to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard.
Mr Marchal was arrested in Iran in June 2019 along with fellow academic Fariba Adelkhah. Ms Adelkhah was charged with “propaganda against the political system of the Islamic Republic” and “collusion to endanger national security”, with only the second charge being laid against Mr Marchal.
Espionage charges against Ms Adelkhah were subsequently dropped. Their trial had been due to start on March 3 but was postponed.
In a statement last week Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said he was “pleased” by the release of Mr Marchal and urged Tehran to release Ms Adelkhah, who remains in custody.