Olivier Grondeau

Olivier Grondeau

French poet, writer, and bookseller

Biography

Olivier Grondeau is a French poet, writer, and bookseller. 

Arrest

Grondeau was arrested on October 12, 2022, in Shiraz, Iran, while visiting the country during a world tour. The arrest occurred in the midst of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests gripping the country. 

At Grondeau’s request, his relatives did not publicly disclose his case, seeking not to get in the way of diplomacy to gain his release. With negotiations proving fruitless, Grondeau chose in January 2025 to permit his relatives to release audio from him recorded in prison. 

Treatment in Captivity

In a letter to his family published in Le Monde, Grondeau stated that he was “abducted” by four men in his hotel and placed in a room without windows. He was kept blindfolded and handcuffed during his first day in detention. He was transferred to Tehran’s notoriously brutal Evin Prison. 

The Iranian authorities only provided signs of life to Grondeau’s family on November 16, 2022, over a month following his arrest.  The authorities permitted Grondeau to call his relatives 72 days following his arrest, after he had been transferred from Evin Prison back to Shiraz. However, he has since been returned to Evin. Guards observe his phone calls to relatives.

Grondeau is being held in a cell he shares with 18 other prisoners, and in a wing in Evin set aside for dual nationals and foreigners. According to a report by Iran International, he “has limited access to a library and books sent by the French embassy.”

Audio from Prison

In an interview recorded in prison and broadcast by a French radio network in January 2025, Grondeau made a plea to the French government. "You, who have the power to influence this matter, hear this truth,” he said. "[French hostage Cecile Kohler’s] strength, [French hostage Jacques Paris’s] strength, Olivier's strength, it is all running out. Your responsibility is called upon to ensure the survival of three human beings.” He also accused Iran of holding him in order to engage in “political blackmail” of France.

Grondeau acknowledged that he risked retaliation from his captors by recording the audio. “I know that to speak out is to take a risk,” he said. “But where there is risk, there is hope and I have very little left. I am really very tired.”

Sentencing

A court convicted and sentenced Grondeau to five years’ imprisonment in February 2024 for “espionage and conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.” Grondeau said in an audio message recorded from prison that “The court that sentenced me had no evidence against me. I am innocent.”

International Reaction

France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs summoned Iran’s ambassador to that country in January 2025 to protest the detention of Grondeau and the other two French nationals held hostage in Iran. “Their situation is intolerable, with inhumane detention conditions that, in some cases, constitute torture under international law,” the ministry declared in a statement.

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