Zionists of France against Iranian female translator; Continuation of incarceration of Mahdieh Esfandiari in notorious Fresnes Prison

Pars Today- Iranian citizen, Mahdieh Esfandiari, who had published a story on her personal social network, has been imprisoned in solitary confinement in France on charges of what is called, "praising terrorism".

Behind the tall walls of Fresnes Prison, where the drug traffickers and dangerous criminals are kept, a 38-year-old Iranian translator and student of linguistics of Lion University is behind the bars. Mahdieh Esfandiari, the Iranian lady whose only guilt is to support the children of Gaza on the cyberspace, has become victim of blatant contradiction in a country which is claiming to be the cradle of civil liberties, namely, France. Pars Today has cast a glance at imprisonment of this Iranian lady.

Disappearance

The Esfandiari family hadn't heard of their daughter since late February, 2025. After months of silence of the French police, the follow-up of Iranian officials revealed that she was arrested due to condemning the massacre of the people of Gaza by the brutal Zionist regime. Mahdieh Esfandiari has been under severe spiritual tortures at solitary confinement for nearly 100 days in Fresnes Prison, the second largest prison in the country.

What does Paris attorney say?

Esfandiari supported the oppressed people of Palestine on a telegram channel in October 2023, but the prosecutor's office of Paris claimed that she had promoted "antisemitism". Her family and friends say, "Mahdieh has just chanted human rights. How come the defense of the innocent people of Gaza is a guilt, but the French support for bombardment of the people of Gaza by the Zionist regime is freedom of expression?"

Fresnes Prison

Fresnes Prison in the south of Paris has 1800 solitary confinements. This prison was designed for 2180 inmates and was the largest prison in the world at the time of opening in July 1898. Like most of the detention centers in France, this prison is suffering from being overcrowded. When the European Human Rights Court condemned France for overcrowded prisons on January 30, 2020, it mentioned the name of Fresnes, too.

This prison is the place of keeping drug traffickers, especially those working with major gangs, dangerous murderers and criminals, armed thieves and organized criminals.

Mahdieh's sister, Ms. Zahra Esfandiari, says, "My sister spoke of the dire situation in Fresnes prison and criticized the conditions in her phone contact with her family after nearly 70 days."

#Mahdieh_Esfandiari

Iranian users of X social network have trended #Mahdieh_Esfandiari in reaction to her arrest.

An Iranian user, called Fatemeh Mohammad Beigi" described this move of the French government as flagrant violation of freedom of expression and an indicative of the duplicitous approach of the countries which masquerade human rights. She wrote, "80 days of incarceration in the horrible Fresnes prison of France, just because of defending the innocence of the people of Gaza! It is incredible that Mahdieh Esfandiari, the Iranian citizen, is treated like this due to peacefully expressing her views and condemning genocide. This is a glaring violation of freedom of expression and indicates the duplicitous approach of the countries claiming human rights."

In the same respect, Seyyed Hani Hashemi, another Iranian user, wrote on X, "France has arrested an Iranian lady who has lived in Lion for 8 years just because of supporting the people of Palestine! Freedom of expression is ridiculous in a country which claims to be the cradle of freedom of expression!"

Detention of over 100 Palestinian activists in Europe

The statistics of human rights organizations indicate that more than 100 Palestinian activists have been arrested in Europe since October 2023. This move of the European governments has raised the questions: "Is freedom of expression exercised in Europe only for those who are consonant with the policies of the West? Would Esfandiari have been arrested, if she had supported the crimes of the Zionist regime instead of backing the Palestinian people? When France is jailing a translator for writing about Gaza, what credit remains for freedom of expression?"

Castigating Western silence

Esmail Baqaei, spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said on the issue, "We have not received a clear response from France, yet. Why is it a guilt to support the oppressed? The West assaults others every day with the pretext of violation of human rights, but this time it stands as the accused itself."

 RM/ME