French tourist faces spy charges in Iran

[bassnbeau]

A French tourist detained by Iran 10 months ago has finally been charged. Benjamin Briere was arrested after flying a drone near the Iran-Turkmenistan border. His lawyer says the drone tourist faces spy charges and may endure a long prison sentence if found guilty.
Briere is in prison in the city of Mashhad and is in good health, according to his lawyer, Saeid Dehghan. Dehghan says the spying charges are related to “taking pictures in forbidden areas.” That would include just about all of Iran since it appears drones are banned outright in the country.

A photo published of Briere by his lawyer, Saeid Dehgan Photo: VOA
“My colleagues and I believe that these charges are false and baseless, but we have to wait for the judge to conduct a full investigation in the next few days and announce his verdict,” says Dehghan.

There is another charge as well: “Propaganda against the system.” The lawyer says that’s the result of Briere’s social media post that said “the hijab is mandatory” in Iran but not in other Islamic countries.
Drone tourist faces spy charges in Iran
France has not commented on the charges.

Reuters reports a person close to Briere’s family said Briere traveled to Iran by van from France.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on espionage charges. Rights activists accuse Iran of arresting these people to seek concessions from other countries. Tehran denies holding people for political reasons.

France is one of a number of countries hoping to restore a nuclear deal struck with Iran in 2015 that was later abandoned by former president Donald Trump in 2018.

It’s not clear whether it’s Briere’s social media post or his drone flying that set Tehran off. But it’s vital to know the drone rules of a host country when traveling. We’ve reported on a number of arrests of drone pilots who could have saved themselves a lot of grief.

The list of countries that ban drones altogether is not long, but Iran is a prominent member.

 

[Marty Markoe]

That would include just about all of Iran since it appears drones are banned outright in the country.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on espionage charges. Rights activists accuse Iran of arresting these people to seek concessions from other countries. Tehran denies holding people for political reasons.

Duh!!! Fly drone in land of Ayatollahs and Revolutionary Guards? Either really a spy or dumbest tourist ever.

 

[Barbara]

On the face of it, flying a drone in Iran sounds like a really bad idea (they're banned).

 

[Gagey52]

I really don’t understand why you would go there. I understand that Iran is a beautiful country in a rugged way, but the RG will take western tourists at a drop of a hat for political gain. He would have to be the dumbest tourist ever. Taking drones into Iran is on a par with taking drugs into Malaysia if your a westerner.
Regards

 

[THE CYBORG]

Just stupid

 

[iReviewFrozenDinners]

I really don’t understand why you would go there. I understand that Iran is a beautiful country in a rugged way, but the RG will take western tourists at a drop of a hat for political gain. He would have to be the dumbest tourist ever. Taking drones into Iran is on a par with taking drugs into Malaysia if your a westerner.
Regards

For the clout points. Clout tourism is now a thing.

 

[Higher Attitudes]

For the clout points. Clout tourism is now a thing.

He'll have clout tourism points for sure when he gets out and posts about his prison time ;-) I feel bad for this guy, but I also want to scream "Why????"

 

[Droniac]

Duh!!! Fly drone in land of Ayatollahs and Revolutionary Guards? Either really a spy or dumbest tourist ever.

Fair perspective... hard to back dumb. But he’s ours, another perspective snd no doubt others. ??

 

[SpitFire]

Some people like to push the limits, and find themselves in trouble.

 

[Guido Cangelosi]

I am staggered to see how little support if any - that damned soul is getting from this community.
His life is at risk -- Iran can do what they want because France wants to do business - so I do not give a cent for his skin - he is a dead man walking. They jailed him 10 months before they had an excuse - I can smell a rotten fish - this proves to me that he is a victim of politix. I know a number of natives who fled that country - so why go there as a tourist ? well, perhaps the lad had no idea. you go on YouTube and you find people making good publicity for it; so if you know nobody from there to know the truth - then one can err.

 

[Tomk_]

I'm not sure why you think we would support a fool. There is zero chance that he thought what he was doing was legal. There is no "innocent" mistake here.

His family says that he doesn't understand what is happening to him. He has been touring around in his van since 2018 taking pictures of pretty landscape. The drone is a toy that he bought for 100 euros. He never dreamed there was anything wrong with taking pictures... or posting statements on social media that the regime considers derogatory. He wasn't hurting anyone.

No one with the common sense of a rock can possibly believe that they can go into Iran and do whatever they want, regardless of the law, because he is a french citizen and shouldn't have to follow "foriegn" laws. It would appear that he will probably have plenty of time to grow up.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

He's not alone in his ignorance / stupidity, these Aussie tourists were lucky . . .

Australian travel bloggers released in Iran were freed in apparent prisoner swap

As for this Frenchmans predicament, I can't see any updates on news services since March 15th, a day before this post was made.
Looks like it will be at the Iranian GOVCOs pleasure at to when this might be settled, rather than "we have to wait for the judge to conduct a full investigation in the next few days and announce his verdict" back on the March 15th reports.

 

[SeriousUndertaking]

I am staggered to see how little support if any - that damned soul is getting from this community.

Why would you expect any? He's been an idiot.

This has happened before (with Australians) so a few minutes of basic research will have avoided this.

If you want to go to a country as a tourist then fine BUT in doing so you make yourself aware of the laws and regulations of that host country. Having done that you comply with their laws whether you agree with them or not.
If you dont, bad things can happen.

If we were dealing with someone who had all the correct paperwork and permissions and appeared to be complying with the law and still go arrested then yes, he deserves support.
But he had none of that.


This was 100% self-inflicted and 100% preventable.

 

[timinator]

Iran has been arresting, charging, and convicting foreigners on these charges of spying and "crimes against the state" long before there were drones. Many, particularly with dual nationality, have found themselves in this situation.

Some counties just aren't safe to travel to and Iran is one of them.

 

[Corsair415]

I am staggered to see how little support if any - that damned soul is getting from this community.

Going to Iran is about as stupid as jumping out of a plane without a parachute.

 

[Maviac]

From all reports, what he did was maybe illegal (I’ve written books about US law, but don’t know Iranian law). Maybe he was acting as a journalist, which might explain the propaganda charge (under the Orwellian system the Iranian regime has). Iranian prisons are notoriously tortious and torturous and deadly.

I believe any of us in the free world can agree no human should have to deal with what this guy is dealing with now. The fact that so many folks here have made comments about how stupid he was, and that he deserved it, is truly troubling.

 

[Gagey52]

From all reports, what he did was maybe illegal (I’ve written books about US law, but don’t know Iranian law). Maybe he was acting as a journalist, which might explain the propaganda charge (under the Orwellian system the Iranian regime has). Iranian prisons are notoriously tortious and torturous and deadly.

I believe any of us in the free world can agree no human should have to deal with what this guy is dealing with now. The fact that so many folks here have made comments about how stupid he was, and that he deserved it, is truly troubling.

As drone pilots in the western world we do enjoy freedoms that a lot of other countries don’t have. The Frenchman in this case was a seasoned traveler who should have known better. It’s not like he was a mum and dad tourist on their first trip overseas. What he did was a dumb stupid thing to do, does he deserve to be imprisoned? No. Does he deserve to be tortured? No. And the majority of the members of this forum would agree with that. They are astounded that someone would actually do that in a country where they are anti - westerners. I think the French government is going to have to do some fancy footwork to get him out of this mess. My thoughts anyway.
Regards

 

[SeriousUndertaking]

The fact that so many folks here have made comments about how stupid he was, and that he deserved it, is truly troubling.

Troubling no. The opposite.
Its quite nice to see so many people side with common sense.
They guy was an idiot. He's not a journalist - no credentials nor did he have a journalistic visa.

He did something pathologically stupid that anyone could see was a really dumb idea. Its likely he knew this anyway, pushed his luck and got caught.

Don't go to other countries unless you know and are happy to abide by their laws. Its that simple.

 

[AZDave]

From all reports, what he did was maybe illegal (I’ve written books about US law, but don’t know Iranian law). Maybe he was acting as a journalist, which might explain the propaganda charge (under the Orwellian system the Iranian regime has). Iranian prisons are notoriously tortious and torturous and deadly.

I believe any of us in the free world can agree no human should have to deal with what this guy is dealing with now. The fact that so many folks here have made comments about how stupid he was, and that he deserved it, is truly troubling.

The guy is dealing with the clear and understandable repercussions of his intentionally illegal behavior in an area universally known for having no sense of humor about such things. How on earth is it "troubling" to point that out? It might be different if he was ill informed or did it by accident, but this was premeditated stupidity on his part. Hard to be sympathetic about that.

 

[Gagey52]

This happened some months ago, has anyone heard of any change to his circumstances?
Regards