«Joseph in the Night»; a French traveler’s book about his prison period in Iran

🔸“I ask myself whether the interrogators replay these scenes in their office again. Do they record the hours when we take off our clothes? Do they check the sequence of washing—scrubbing—our body parts? Then do they type into their search engine: ‘How can someone identify a criminal by their bathing habits’? Do they note down the results that appear and, at lunch, discuss them with their colleagues? …”

🔸The book «Joseph in the Night», written by Olivier Grondot, which has recently been published in French in Paris, is the first book by this French traveler, yet it has managed to make it onto the initial shortlist of nominees for the Goncourt Prize; the most important literary award in the French-speaking world, awarded every autumn.

🔸«Joseph in the Night», which the publisher presents as “a literary account,” covers the first months of Grondot’s detention in Iran; he was arrested in Shiraz in 1401 (2022/2023) at the same time as protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, and after 887 days of captivity, he was released in Esfand 1403 (February/March 2025).

🔸The Islamic Republic is accused of trying to exert pressure on foreign governments by detaining foreign or dual-national citizens, in pursuit of its demands, such as prisoner exchanges. Activists and human rights organizations, as well as Western governments, describe this conduct by the Islamic Republic as “hostage-taking.”

🔸Read the full text of this report on the Radio Farda website.