A French citizen who was arrested on an Iranian island for entering the country illegally has been released, official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.
“A French national who had been arrested for unauthorized entry into Iran has been released in recent days as the legal proceedings took their course and other charges were dropped,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told IRNA.
IRNA did not give the French national’s name or gender.
A French diplomatic source said the person released was Nelly Erin-Cambervelle, a 59-year-old businesswoman from Martinique, whose case was addressed by Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The source said Erin-Cambervelle left Iran on Sunday.
Le Drian said on Wednesday that the French government had contacted Tehran in an effort to improve the detention conditions of the businesswoman arrested in October on the Persian Gulf island of Kish for unauthorized entry and allegedly signing an illegal mining contract.
Erin-Cambervelle had been on the island representing her import-export business, according to Le Drian.
“She went to Kish Island, not far from Dubai, which is considered to be Iranian territory. She was arrested … on the grounds of having signed an illegal contract and carrying out a non-authorized trip,” he said.
– with reporting by Agence France-Presse