TEHRAN, Iran—An Iranian appeals court upheld the eight-year prison sentence of a French tourist for taking photos in a prohibited area and asking questions about Iran’s obligatory Islamic hijab for women, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Benjamin Briere, 36, was arrested in May 2020 and sentenced in January. He went on a hunger strike on Dec. 25 to protest his treatment in prison in the northeastern city of Mashhad, where he is being detained.
His Iranian lawyer, Saeed Dehghan, said on Twitter that “The sentence of eight years and eight months in prison for Benjamin Briere, French tourist was finalized.”
Paris-based lawyer Philippe Valent said at the time of Briere’s sentencing that an Iranian revolutionary court sentenced him to eight years for espionage and eight months for anti-government propaganda. Under Iranian law, the longer part is applied in practice….