The wife of a Frenchman held in Iran for illegal entry said on Tuesday he was the victim of a territorial dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, his country of residence.
Stephane Lherbier, who has owned a fishing business in the UAE since 2004, was captured with a German tourist near Abu Musa when the Iranian coast guard intercepted his boat. On Wednesday, Lherbier completes one year of an 18-month sentence in Tehran's Evin prison. He was convicted in January.
"What is happening to my husband is unfair, why are they keeping him in jail, he did not know it was Iranian waters," his wife Veronique Lherbier told Reuters.
Lherbier, 33, was not aware that the island of Abu Musa was disputed territory as a UAE map showed it belonged to the Gulf Arab state, his wife said. "When we moved to Dubai (to start) a fishing business, my husband bought maps which said Abu Musa was UAE territory, I did not know it was disputed, we did not know that and no one told my husband."
The three strategic islands - Abu Musa and the lesser and greater Tunbs - have been the core of a dispute between the two Gulf neighbours since 1972. Veronique said she travelled to Iran with her three-year-old daughter five times over the past year to see him. "Our daughter deserves to be with her father," said the 31-year-old woman who lives in Dubai one of the seven emirates that make up United Arab Emirates.
The islands are located near the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of world oil supplies pass. The UAE wants the issue resolved through direct talks or the International Court of Justice but Tehran has rejected any outside mediation in the dispute.
Comments
Comments are closed.