Today is day 19 of French citizen, Benjamin Briere’s hunger strike. He has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran since May 2020. He is one of seven French citizens currently held in Iran. The French government has referred to them as state hostages.Iran is notorious for arresting innocent foreign nationals on false charges and putting them in prison for years for the purpose of extracting concessions from their home country. This abhorrent practice is state-sponsored hostage taking also known as hostage diplomacy.On this episode, we speak once again to Benjamin’s sister, Blandine Briere who tells us what needs to be done to bring her brother back home to France. Last month, Blandine and the other families of French hostages in Iran held a rally in Paris urging the Iranian regime to release their loved ones. She talks about this rally, her brother’s hunger strike, what the Iranian authorities, French government and European Union should do as well as how journalists and the public can help free Benjamin Briere.If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube. For more information on Benjamin Briere, please check out the following:Our previous episode: Ep 42Free Benjamin Briere petitionFree Benjamin Instagram accountBlandine Briere's Twitter accountSocial media hashtag: FreeBenGet the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.Support the show