Overview
- Benjamin Brière, freed from Iran in May 2023 after 1,079 days, says he returned to France to find he had been removed from Social Security and France Travail.
- He recounts a tax agent telling him that even in prison one files tax returns and that his family could have done it for him.
- He says he had almost no contact with relatives during detention, with no calls the first year and brief calls only every four to six weeks later.
- He lacked money for housing and therapy and recovered about €8,000 in unemployment benefits only after a lawmaker pressed the labor minister.
- He is working with SOS Otages to seek a legal status and a dedicated allowance for former hostages to make reintegration workable.