France will increase humanitarian visas for persecuted Iranians seeking asylum

Paris.- French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced this Wednesday that France will increase the number of humanitarian visas for Iranians persecuted by the ayatollahs’ regime who seek asylum.

“We are going to increase our humanitarian visas for asylum purposes for these profiles that we must protect, it is our responsibility,” Barrot affirmed, after being consulted in the National Assembly (Lower House) on the measures adopted by the French Government in support of the Iranian people.

You may be interested in: http://Francia reconoce al Estado palestino

In the context of the repression that has caused “deaths by the thousands, perhaps by tens of thousands,” Barrot admitted that it is important for Iranians to know that the French “are on their side” and detailed the major work priorities of his portfolio. As a main measure, he mentioned the increase in visas, although he did not specify concrete figures, and secondly, he mentioned the “fight against impunity”. In that sense, Barrot recalled that France supported at the European level the declaration as a terrorist organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for its direct role in the brutal repression of the latest popular protests, as well as sanctions against some twenty personalities of the Iranian regime. “We are going to continue this work of fighting against impunity,” promised Barrot, who urged Tehran to allow the entry of a United Nations mission to investigate the crimes. In addition to demanding “an end to repression, the release of prisoners and the cessation of executions”, he assured that France will continue working to guarantee the safety of its nationals and French companies in Iran. In particular, Barrot stressed that his government does not forget Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French citizens imprisoned in Iran in 2022 and convicted of alleged espionage, who were released last November, but who cannot leave Iran and are in the French embassy in Tehran.