Second French academic detained in Iran since June: research group

A prominent French academic, Roland Marchal, has been in detention in Iran since June, when he was arrested alongside his Franco-Iranian colleague, anthropologist Fariba Adelkhah, a researchers' group announced Wednesday.

Marchal and Abdelkhah both work at Sciences Po university in Paris.

The FASOPO association, of which they are both members, announced Marchal's detention on its website, saying that it had remained quiet about his arrest at the request of French authorities until it was reported on Tuesday evening by French newspaper Le Figaro.