TEHRAN — Iran confirmed on Tuesday the arrest of anthropologist Kameel Ahmady, reportedly a British-Iranian dual national, less than three months after the detention of Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah was publicized.

"It is true that this person was arrested," said judicial spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili, responding to a question about Ahmady at a press conference in Tehran.

French anthropologist Christian Bromberger wrote in August that Ahmady was "recently arrested", in an article published on the French edition of The Conversation website.

Author of a book in English titled "In the Name of Tradition: Female Genital Mutilation in Iran", Ahmady holds dual British and Iranian citizenship, according to Bromberger, himself an Iran specialist.

Ahmady is subject to a "preliminary investigation" on suspicion of "links to foreign countries and institutes affiliated with foreign (intelligence) services," said Esmaili during the press conference, which was broadcast online.

On 15 July, French authorities announced Adelkhah had been arrested in Iran. A specialist in Shiite Islam, Adelkhah is the research director at the Centre for International Studies and Research at Sciences Po University in Paris.

Esmaili confirmed her arrest the next day.

Adelkhah was "one of the suspects recently arrested," he said, without giving further details about her case. — AFP