Iran Charges French Tourist Briere With Espionage French tourist Benjamin Briere is being held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, Iran Continuing to seek leverage with other countries through political prisoners, Iran has charged another foreign national with “espionage” and “propaganda against the system”. The lawyer for French tourist Benjamin Briere, detained arrested since last May, confirmed that his client has been accused of taking pictures in “forbidden areas” and of “raising the question in [social] media” about why hijab is mandatory for women in Iran but optional in other Islamic countries. “My colleagues and I believe that these charges are false and baseless, but we have to wait for the judge to conduct a full investigation in the next few days and announce his verdict,” attorney Saeed Dehghan said.