French prosecutor seeks jail term for Iranian accused of promoting terror, including Oct. 7 comments

A French prosecutor seeks a one-year jail term for an Iranian woman accused of promoting terrorism online in a case linked to a possible prisoner swap with two French citizens.

Judgment in the case is expected on February 26.

Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian, was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting and inciting terrorism on social media.

The arrest was over comments she is said to have made, including some on Palestinian terror group Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, according to French authorities.

She is accused of having written posts for a channel called “Axis of the Resistance” in 2023 and 2024 on platforms including Telegram, X, Twitch and YouTube.

She was released after some eight months in pre-trial detention in October pending her trial, which started Tuesday. It was scheduled long before the latest protests erupted in Iran.

The prosecutor requests a four-year jail term, including three years suspended, for Esfandiari, but says it would not be necessary for her to be re-incarcerated.

Esfandiari, who has translated into French works from a publisher linked to the Iranian authorities, told the court she had been involved with the “Axis of the Resistance” project, but had not written its posts.

Of the October 7 Hamas attack in 2023, she said: “It’s not an act of terrorism, it’s an act of resistance.”

Before this week’s trial, Iran’s authorities had already said they would be willing to exchange Esfandiari for two French citizens they are holding.

Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris were arrested in Iran in May 2022, but were freed in November after more than three years in prison on espionage charges their families vehemently denied.

They were immediately taken by French diplomats to France’s mission in Tehran, but are still waiting to leave Iran.