83% of French want from their president François Hollande to address the question of human rights with the Iranian president.

The Iranian President’s visit to France on the 27th and 28th of January raises once again the question of the relationship between France, the homeland of human rights with repressive dictatorships. The French are not misled by the Iranian regime and believe overwhelmingly that it is a repressive regime that does not respect the basic freedoms.

The Elabe survey, conducted on the occasion of the visit of the Iranian President to France, reveals that one in two French believes that France should not welcome authoritarian leaders on its territory.

If for 48% of them, economic reasons can justify it, the French are a large majority to consider that in any event, they cannot receive dictators with impunity, without defending their values: for example, more than 8 French people out of ten (and up to 92% of left supporters) believe that François Hollande must address the issue of human rights in Iran on the occasion of the visit of Hassan Rouhani.

Attached to all freedoms, the French are strongly attached to the freedom of the press since for 84% of them this non-compliance is unacceptable and should be taken into consideration when France and Europe negotiate with Iran. The same applies for ethnic and religious discrimination, for nearly eight out of ten French people.

These issues are to be addressed by the Head of State effectively judging by the attachment of the French to the freedom of opinion (97%) to human rights (96%) and to religious freedom (75%). Especially, France has to keep in mind that Iran does not ensure freedom of the press and media (91%), does not respect human rights (90%) nor guarantees religious freedom (88%).