TEHRAN – The French government arrested an Iranian journalist on Tuesday, under charges still unknown to his family and the public.

Biazar was summoned by French police without explanation and subsequently arrested upon his arrival at the police station. He was then transported to a detention facility located three hours away from his residence.

Police and officials of France have not commented on the Iranian national’s detention despite calls from his spouse, Iran’s foreign ministry, and the country’s top rights official.

Biazar was an independent journalist whose coverage of the latest Israeli war on Gaza had garnered significant attention on social media. Shortly after the beginning of the regime’s onslaughts against Palestinians in the besieged enclave, Biazar’s account was removed by X without prior warnings. The journalist opened up a new account, where he shared videos of anti-Israel demonstrations in France and also raised awareness about the plight of Palestinians at the hands of the regime’s cruel military. 

“The arrest of an Iranian national by the French police over 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 spouse and the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; we’re determined to defend our compatriots. This Iranian national must be freed as soon as possible,” he said.

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

“Right after finding out [about the Iranian national’s arrest], the Ministry of Foreign Affairs put pursuing and [ensuring] respect for the rights of this citizen and his most immediate release on its agenda,” the official said in a statement.

Biazar’s pinned post on his X account displays him during a United Nations session where he was given the chance to detail the impact of Western sanctions on Iranian society, UN inaction in regards to 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 multiple rounds of applause from other speakers and widely shared on different social media platforms. 

Silencing dissent against Israel

Washington and European states have worked in tandem in the past 8 months to muzzle any form of criticism against Israel.

The regime has killed over 36,000 civilians and razed the majority of Gaza to the ground, since a successful Palestinian operation deep inside the occupied territories on October 7th. It has targeted hospitals, schools, homes, mosques, and churches all across the enclave, and built mass graves in some areas to conceal its killing of civilians. 

The situation in Gaza is being characterized as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis by different bodies. Almost half of Gaza’s population is comprised of children, making the situation one of the most harrowing in modern history. 

The scope of Israeli crimes has been spurring mass protests across the world, particularly in Western countries where people think their politicians are also to blame for the catastrophe due to their funding of the regime. 

Western states have so far reacted to the protests with unprecedented violence. They have unleashed riot police against peaceful demonstrators in streets as well as schools, using teasers, batons, and pepper spray to disperse crowds. Thousands of people have also been arrested across Europe and the United States under accusations of “antisemitism.”

Leaders have also reacted strongly to any criticism of the regime in the media. Several well-established journalists and editors have lost their lives in the past months for simply advocating for the rights of Palestinians as human beings. 

The arrest of Biazar comes as a new move by Western politicians who have been unable to exert pressure on him through his workplace, as he is an independent journalist.