- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
- Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
- Trump demonizes migrants in dark, misleading speech
- X says 'alert' to manipulation efforts after pro-Russia bots report
- US, European markets rise before Boeing unveils sweeping job cuts
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Comoros shock Tunisia, Salah, Mbeumo strike in AFCON qualifiers
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Germany win in Nations League as 10-man Dutch rescue point
- Undav brace sends Germany to victory against Bosnia
- Israel says fired at 'threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- Ecuador's last mountain iceman dies at 80
- Milton leaves at least 16 dead, millions without power in Florida
- Senegal set to announce breakaway development agenda: PM
- UN says 2 peacekeepers wounded in south Lebanon explosions
- Injury-hit Australia thrash 'embarrassing' Pakistan at Women's T20 World Cup
- Internal TikTok documents show prioritization of traffic over well-being
- Israel says fired at 'immediate threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- New US coach Pochettino hails Pulisic but worries over workload
- Brazil orders closure of 2,000 betting sites
- UK govt urged to raise pro-democracy tycoon's case with China
- Sculptor Lalanne's animal creations sell for $59 mn
- From Tesla to Trump: Behind Musk's giant leap into politics
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- Supercharged hurricanes trigger 'perfect storm' for disinformation
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Djokovic proves staying power as he progresses to Shanghai semi-finals
- Sheffield Utd boss Wilder 'numb' after Baldock death
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- Fans immerse themselves in Marina Abramovic's first China exhibition
- Israel says conducting review after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Djokovic 'overwhelmed' after 'greatest rival' Nadal's retirement
- Zelensky in Berlin says hopes war with Russia will end next year
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Djokovic proves staying power as progresses to Shanghai semi-finals
- Hurricane Milton leaves at least 16 dead as Florida cleans up
- Britain face 'ultimate challenge' in America's Cup duel with New Zealand
- Lebanon calls for 'immediate' ceasefire in Israel-Hezbollah war
- Nihon Hidankyo: Japan's A-bomb survivors awarded Nobel
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Boat captain rescued clinging to cooler in Gulf of Mexico after storm Milton
- Tears, warnings after Japan atomic survivors group win Nobel
- 'Unspeakable horror': the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- Christian villagers 'trapped' in south Lebanon crossfire
Iran jails French national for 5 years: family
An Iranian court has ordered a five-year jail sentence against a French national tried on national security charges, his family announced on Wednesday.
Louis Arnaud, a banking consultant, was detained in Iran in September last year and has been held in Tehran's Evin prison.
Arnaud was handed the sentence by a Revolutionary Court on charges of making propaganda against and seeking to harm the security of the Islamic republic, the family said in a statement.
The family said Arnaud was innocent of all charges and denounced the verdict as "an attack on human rights and individual freedoms".
The statement described Arnaud as a "passionate traveller" who had long wanted to visit Iran.
"Unfortunately, his dream turned into a nightmare when he was unjustly targeted, imprisoned, and now convicted on baseless charges, stripping him of his freedom and rights."
It insisted he had "kept a distance from the social movements that were starting" while in Iran, in reference to the protest movement that erupted in September 2022.
"At no time did he act with political intentions or carelessness."
Arnaud has lodged an appeal against the verdict, the family added.
The verdict has so far not been reported by Iranian media or publicly confirmed by the Iranian judiciary.
Arnaud is one of at least a dozen foreign nationals held by Tehran in what activists and Western governments have described as a deliberate hostage-taking strategy aimed at extracting concessions from the West.
Several foreign prisoners have been released in recent months, including five Americans freed in a complex exchange for billions of dollars in Iranian funds that had been frozen in a South Korean account.
In May, Iran freed French prisoners Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan, the latter also an Irish national, after their health deteriorated during hunger strikes. French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah finally returned to France in October after being held for four-and-a-half years.
But aside from Arnaud, three other French citizens are held by Iran: teacher Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris and a man identified only by his first name, Olivier.
L.Mason--AMWN