Almost a month after two prominent Iranian graphic designers were detained by security forces, friends and associates of the pair have issued a statement demanding public disclosure of the charges against them and immediate access to independent legal counsel.
Aria Kasaei, 46, a well-known graphic designer and founder of the Kargah design studio, and Elaheh "Elly" Naghilou, a 36-year-old graphic designer and colleague of Kasaei, were detained after a meeting with people linked to the French Embassy in Tehran on July 19.
The day after the arrests, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot publicly revealed that two French Embassy officials had been subjected to an "extremely serious act of intimidation" by Iranian security services during the incident.
According to Barrot, the diplomats were detained and interrogated for hours, with one subjected to physical abuse before both were safely repatriated to France. There was no mention of the Iranian artists in his statement.
Hambood Collective, an independent guild of artists and activists, reported that security forces arrested the Iranian pair at the same time.
Judicial and security officials have provided no formal explanation for the arrests, the charges, or where the two are being held.
In a statement provided to RFE/RL's Radio Farda, friends of the pair vowed "not to allow the silence imposed on them to be the only narrative of this story."
"Given that two French representatives witnessed part of this event, we call on French authorities to clarify all aspects of this illegal arrest, obtain accurate information about the status of Aria and Elly, and take serious action to guarantee their rights, safety, and freedom," the statement reads.
The statement also accused the Intelligence Ministry of publishing a "false narrative regarding the arrest and the nature of their activity, aimed at incriminating them without giving them an opportunity to respond."
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Iran Parliament Advances Bill Criminalizing Contact With Foreign Media and InstitutionsThe accusation refers to an August 15 statement by the ministry alleging that the French government was orchestrating a "foreign infiltration and interference" project in Iran. While the ministry warned that French diplomats involved in "illegal interventionist behavior" would face direct confrontation, it omitted any explicit mention of the two artists' detention.
According to the statement, the arrests took place on July 19 during a professional meeting at Kasaei's home in Tehran.
The meeting, which the statement said had been requested by the cultural section of the French Embassy in Iran, was attended by the French cultural attache and another staff member to discuss the Villa Zadig initiative, described in its official Instagram profile as an artistic cultural space intended to foster dialogue between traditional Iranian crafts and French art, language, and education.
Iranian authorities routinely treat contact with Western diplomats and foreign media as a national security threat, frequently imprisoning citizens on allegations of espionage or state subversion for participating in foreign-backed cultural or civic programs.
On August 17, Iran’s hard-line-dominated parliament approved the framework of a bill that criminalizes interactions with "hostile" foreign media and other institutions with ties abroad.