Emmanuel Macron announced his release in a message broadcast on X, calling on Tehran to immediately release the three other French nationals still being held in Iran

Louis Arnaud, who had been detained in Iran since September 2022, has been released, Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday 12 June in a message broadcast on X. “Louis Arnaud is free”, wrote the French President, adding that he will be back in France tomorrow after a prolonged detention in Iran. Macron expressed his gratitude to “our Omani friends and all those who contributed to this happy outcome”. He also called on Iran to release the three other French nationals still being held “without delay”.

Louis Arnaud arrived in France on Thursday morning. His lawyer, Martin Pradel, reacted on France Inter by expressing “great relief for everyone”. He described the “extremely difficult” conditions under which his client had been held, stressing that he had been kept in isolation in precarious conditions.

The 30-year-old began a world tour in July 2022 that took him to Iran, a country he had long wanted to visit because of its history and the hospitality of its people, according to his mother Sylvie Arnaud, who mentioned him a few months ago. He was arrested in September 2022 along with other Europeans, accused of taking part in demonstrations following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurd.