Who is the Iranian journalist arrested in France?

TEHRAN – The French government arrested an Iranian journalist on Tuesday. Neither his family nor the public are aware of the charges.

Biazar was summoned by the French police without any reason and arrested upon arrival at the police station. He was then taken to a detention centre three hours away from his home.

Despite requests from his wife, the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the country’s top human rights official, neither the police nor other French authorities have commented on the Iranian citizen’s arrest.

Biazar was an independent journalist whose coverage of the recent Israeli war on Gaza had attracted widespread attention on social media. Shortly after the regime began its attacks on Palestinians in the besieged enclave, Biazar’s account was deleted by X without warning. The journalist opened a new account where he shared videos of anti-Israel demonstrations in France and also highlighted the plight of Palestinians facing the regime’s cruel military.

“The arrest of an Iranian citizen by French police for his support for the oppressed people of Palestine is another disgrace for France in the field of human rights,” Kazem Gharibabadi, the secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, wrote on X on Wednesday.

“Yesterday I spoke with his wife and Foreign Ministry officials. We are determined to defend our compatriots. This Iranian citizen must be released as soon as possible,” he said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani also commented on Biazar’s arrest.

“Immediately after learning of the arrest of the Iranian citizen, the State Department placed on its agenda the pursuit and (ensuring) respect for this citizen’s rights and his release as soon as possible,” the official said in a statement.

Biazar’s pinned post on his X account shows him during a United Nations session where he had the opportunity to detail the impact of Western sanctions on Iranian society, the UN’s inaction on the sanctions, as well as the humanitarian situation in Gaza based on his findings. The journalist’s statements about Israeli crimes against humanity were met with much applause from other speakers and were widely shared on various social media platforms.

Silencing dissidents against Israel

Washington and European states have worked together over the past eight months to suppress any form of criticism of Israel.

Since a successful Palestinian operation deep in the occupied territories on October 7, the regime has killed over 36,000 civilians and razed most of Gaza to the ground. It has attacked hospitals, schools, homes, mosques and churches across the enclave and built mass graves in some areas to cover up the killing of civilians.

The situation in Gaza has been described by various organizations as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Almost half of the Gaza Strip’s population are children, making the situation one of the most harrowing in modern history.

The scale of Israel’s crimes sparked mass protests around the world, especially in Western countries, where people believe that their politicians are also responsible for the disaster because of their financial support of the regime.

Western states have responded to the protests with unprecedented violence, deploying riot police against peaceful demonstrators in the streets and schools, using stabbing weapons, batons and pepper spray to disperse crowds, and arresting thousands of people across Europe and the United States on charges of “anti-Semitism.”

Politicians also reacted violently to any criticism of the regime in the media. Several renowned journalists and editors lost their lives in recent months simply because they stood up for the human rights of the Palestinians.

Biazar’s arrest is a new move by Western politicians who have so far been unable to exert pressure on him through his workplace because he is an independent journalist.