Iran court holds session in trial of academic

TEHRAN: A court session was held on Sunday in the trial of Fariba Adelkhah, an academic detained in Iran, her lawyer told AFP, the second since her trial began.

Adelkhah, a specialist in Islam and a research director at Sciences Po university in Paris, was arrested in June 2019. She is a citizen of Iran and France, but Tehran does not recognise dual nationality.

Adelkhah is accused of "propaganda against the system" and "colluding to commit acts against national security". Her trial started on March 3. Sunday´s session was held at branch 15 of Tehran´s Revolutionary Court, lawyer Said Dehghan told AFP by telephone, and lasted for about two hours.

He describe it as "satisfactory" and raised hopes for Adelkhah´s freedom, adding that he expected the court´s decision within a week. Adelkhah´s French colleague and partner Roland Marchal, who was also detained in June 2019 while visiting her, was released in March in an apparent prisoner swap with France.

Dehghan said Adelkhah had been in "high spirits" since Marchal´s release. Marchal was freed after France released Iranian engineer Jallal Rohollahnejad, who faced extradition to the United States over accusations of violating sanctions placed on the Islamic republic.