Tribune. Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal, researchers at Sciences Po, were arrested together in early June in Tehran under the usual pretexts of convenience – espionage, attack on state security and other nonsense as credible in the Middle East as the indictments of Stalinist times in the USSR.
They have been languishing since in Evin prison, in arbitrary detention, so to speak cut off from the world apart from one consular visit per month for Roland Marchal (but not for Fariba Adelkhah, due to his dual nationality), very rare and short communications telephone calls with their families, the assistance of a lawyer, and perhaps, for Fariba Adelkhah, a few brief contacts with a sister.
France’s diplomatic efforts to secure their release have so far been unsuccessful. In December an Iranian court requested their release on bail, but the prosecution found them incompetent and transferred the case to the revolutionary court. In other words, the two French researchers are doomed to an endless incarceration as suggested by fifteen other cases of Western academics detained by Iran for years, and released on the dropper according to an opaque agenda.
It is under these conditions that Fariba Adelkhah decided, on December 23, together with Kylie Moore-Gilbert, Australian academic suffering this fate for fifteen months, to go on a full and unlimited hunger strike to obtain their release, but also to protest against attacks on the basic rights of researchers throughout the Middle East. Denying themselves a drink, the two academics are condemned to an excruciating death within the next few days.
"The Lionesses"
There is nothing, however, to cast doubt on their determination. Fariba Adelkhah had created a women's social discussion group on Telegram, and called it "The Lionesses". To know her for a long time, we know that she is ready to die as a lioness to defend her freedom, that of her profession, and her dignity, delivered to the psychological tortures which she mentions in the letter that she co-signed with Kylie Moore-Gilbert, and confirmed by testimony from Evin prison since November. It is feared that Roland Marchal will show solidarity with his action if he is informed.
Our Turkish university friends who have faced such situations believe that a hunger strike in the face of such regimes is akin to a earthen pot fight against the iron pot. And, in fact, even a democracy like that of Britain can let a hunger striker die. However, how can we not respect the dramatic decision of our two colleagues, however painful it may be? How can we not hear their call, because this is right? Call for their freedom, but also that of science, of thought, for our own freedom therefore.
