France – Le Point, Oct. 06, 2025
The 19-year-old cyclist had been arrested on June 16 on charges of “espionage.” He is currently at the French embassy in Tehran, awaiting his return to France.
The news is as unexpected as it is welcome. Young French national Lennart Monterlos, who had been arbitrarily detained in Iran since last June 16, has been acquitted of the charges brought against him, according to a statement on Monday, October 6, by Mizan Online, the website of Iran’s judiciary, which is controlled by ultraconservatives.
Arrested in the midst of the twelve-day war between Israel and Iran while cycling across the country, the 19-year-old was previously accused of espionage. “Despite his arrest under special wartime conditions and the issuance of an indictment against this individual, the case was thoroughly examined and handled by the Revolutionary Court of Bandar Abbas,” said Mojtaba Ghahremani, the chief judge of Hormozgan Province.
“Despite the indictment issued by the prosecutor’s office, the Revolutionary Court, taking into account legal principles and doubts regarding the alleged crime, issued a verdict of acquittal. Of course, under the law, the prosecutor has the right to appeal the decision.”
A professor and her partner still arbitrarily detained
According to the website Ici Besançon Radio, Lennart Monterlos is currently at the French embassy in Tehran — a fact we can confirm — awaiting his return to France. He was 18 at the time of his arrest and was swept up in a wave of detentions of hundreds of Iranian and foreign citizens by security forces following the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran on June 13.
Originally from Besançon (Doubs), the young man, who holds dual French-German nationality, had decided to return to the Islamic Republic with his French passport on May 24, 2025, after a first trip the previous year during which he had been captivated by the country. As his Iranian visa was set to expire at the end of June, he was about to leave the country for Afghanistan when he was arrested in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, where he remained imprisoned for nearly four months.
