With the lights kept on 24 hours a day, allowed outside for just 30 minutes a few times a week, a French couple held in Iran since May 2022 on Wednesday marked three years of incarceration in the Islamic republic, with no immediate prospect of an end to their ordeal.Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, held on spying charges they vehemently deny, are jailed in extremely tough conditions and feeling increasingly hopeless, according to their families.They are among a number of Europeans held by Iran in what France and other countries call a deliberate hostage-taking strategy to extract concessions from the West at a time of tension over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.Kohler, a 40-year-old literature teacher from eastern France and her partner Paris, in his 70s, were arrested on May 7, 2022, on the last day of a tourist trip to Iran. They are held in section 209 at Tehran’s Evin Prison, seen as reserved for political prisoners.They are the last known French detainees in Iran after some recent releases and are regarded as “state hostages” by the French government.”It’s very, very hard. We’re tired. We never imagined it could last this long,” Cecile Kohler’s sister Noemie told AFP ahead of the anniversary.”Cecile and Jacques are increasingly desperate and are less and less optimistic,” said Noemie, who is leading the campaign for her sister’s release.Supporters held rallies across France on Wednesday, including in Paris where Noemie was joined by their parents Mireille and Pascal. Protesters held banners with slogans including “get Cecile out of 209, her life is in danger”.President Emmanuel Macron said that France was working “tirelessly” to free the couple.”I assure their families that our support is unwavering,” Macron wrote on X.In a video message, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called the couple’s detention “unacceptable”.The couple are being kept “in inhumane conditions that amount to torture”, he said, describing the pair as “victims of the Iranian regime”.- ‘No foreigner is safe’ -The pair were forced to make “confessions” broadcast on Iranian state television a few months after their arrest and have received only four consular visits in three years.”Unfortunately, there aren’t really any signs of hope,” said Noemie Kohler. “Our only lever is mobilisation, making as much noise as possible in the hope that it will be heard in Iran,” she said.The couple’s lights are kept on 24 hours a day and they are permitted just 30 minutes outdoors two or three times a week. Rare and short calls to their loved ones are held under the highest surveillance, the last one on April 14.France-Iran relations have become even more strained in recent weeks, with Paris threatening new sanctions against Tehran amid growing international alarm about the Iranian nuclear programme.In February an Iranian woman, Mahdieh Esfandiari, was arrested in France on charges of promoting terrorism on social media, while a Franco-Iranian influencer is to go on trial on the same charge.France has said it will lodge a complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over the fate of the two, a move welcomed by their families but unlikely to hasten the case in the short term.Barrot said around 20 Europeans are held in a similar manner in Iran including “teachers, academics, journalists, tourists”.”No foreigner is safe today,” he said, calling on French citizens not to travel to Iran.Many such cases are believed not to be made public by governments and families in the hope of solving the situation without publicity.Among Europeans known to be held in Iran is Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was arrested during a visit in April 2016 and sentenced to death in 2017 on spying charges, which his family says are false.
With the lights kept on 24 hours a day, allowed outside for just 30 minutes a few times a week, a French couple held in Iran since May 2022 on Wednesday marked three years of incarceration in the Islamic republic, with no immediate prospect of an end to their ordeal.Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, held on spying charges they vehemently deny, are jailed in extremely tough conditions and feeling increasingly hopeless, according to their families.They are among a number of Europeans held by Iran in what France and other countries call a deliberate hostage-taking strategy to extract concessions from the West at a time of tension over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.Kohler, a 40-year-old literature teacher from eastern France and her partner Paris, in his 70s, were arrested on May 7, 2022, on the last day of a tourist trip to Iran. They are held in section 209 at Tehran’s Evin Prison, seen as reserved for political prisoners.They are the last known French detainees in Iran after some recent releases and are regarded as “state hostages” by the French government.”It’s very, very hard. We’re tired. We never imagined it could last this long,” Cecile Kohler’s sister Noemie told AFP ahead of the anniversary.”Cecile and Jacques are increasingly desperate and are less and less optimistic,” said Noemie, who is leading the campaign for her sister’s release.Supporters held rallies across France on Wednesday, including in Paris where Noemie was joined by their parents Mireille and Pascal. Protesters held banners with slogans including “get Cecile out of 209, her life is in danger”.President Emmanuel Macron said that France was working “tirelessly” to free the couple.”I assure their families that our support is unwavering,” Macron wrote on X.In a video message, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called the couple’s detention “unacceptable”.The couple are being kept “in inhumane conditions that amount to torture”, he said, describing the pair as “victims of the Iranian regime”.- ‘No foreigner is safe’ -The pair were forced to make “confessions” broadcast on Iranian state television a few months after their arrest and have received only four consular visits in three years.”Unfortunately, there aren’t really any signs of hope,” said Noemie Kohler. “Our only lever is mobilisation, making as much noise as possible in the hope that it will be heard in Iran,” she said.The couple’s lights are kept on 24 hours a day and they are permitted just 30 minutes outdoors two or three times a week. Rare and short calls to their loved ones are held under the highest surveillance, the last one on April 14.France-Iran relations have become even more strained in recent weeks, with Paris threatening new sanctions against Tehran amid growing international alarm about the Iranian nuclear programme.In February an Iranian woman, Mahdieh Esfandiari, was arrested in France on charges of promoting terrorism on social media, while a Franco-Iranian influencer is to go on trial on the same charge.France has said it will lodge a complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over the fate of the two, a move welcomed by their families but unlikely to hasten the case in the short term.Barrot said around 20 Europeans are held in a similar manner in Iran including “teachers, academics, journalists, tourists”.”No foreigner is safe today,” he said, calling on French citizens not to travel to Iran.Many such cases are believed not to be made public by governments and families in the hope of solving the situation without publicity.Among Europeans known to be held in Iran is Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was arrested during a visit in April 2016 and sentenced to death in 2017 on spying charges, which his family says are false.
