Arrested on May 7, 2022 in Iran while they were on a tourist trip, Cécile Kohler and her companion, Jacques Paris, have since been retained in Evin’s high security prison. For several decades, the majority of French hostages were in hand terrorist groups. From now on, these hostages are prisoners of states against the backdrop of geopolitical conflicts, according to international tensions.
The Kohler-Paris couple is thus accused of spying by the Iranian authorities. “Liberating the two teachers detained in Iran” remains “an absolute priority” of France, said the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the eve of the third anniversary of their arrest.
Jacques Paris’s state of health is the one that inspires the most fear. This former math teacher, now 72, 31 years older than his partner, has been retired since 2018. They are both trade unionists and workers’ members. Olivier Rondeau, he has long held in jails in Iran, has recently been released.
Théo Clerc and Martin Ryan in Azerbaijan
Two other French people are retained in prisons in Azerbaijan, a country with which France also maintains extremely tense diplomatic relations. Théo Clerc is considered by the Quai d’Orsay as a “diplomatic hostage”. He was sentenced to three years in prison for graffiti on a metro train. His two co-accused (an Australia and a New Zealander), arrested at the same time as him, were only sentenced to fines.
-Martin Ryan, for his part was imprisoned on December 4, 2023. This Franco-British business manager is accused of spying acts. According to the former Soviet Republic, he tried to obtain information on the alliance with Turkey. With the backdrop of strong geopolitical tensions: in the Haut-Karabagh conflict which opposes Azerbaijan to Armenia, France took sides for Armenia.
What happened to Guy-André Kieffer?
In Russia, Laurent Vinatier, imprisoned since June 2024, was sentenced to three years in prison on February 24, 2025. As for Martin Ryan, France qualified this decision as a court as a court as a court and claimed its immediate release. This researcher specializing in post-Soviet space was employed by the center for humanitarian dialogue. This Swiss NGO mediation in conflicts, outside of official diplomatic circuits. In Ukraine in particular.
Our file on the situation of hostages
The case of Guy-André Kieffer is extremely vague and probably the most disturbing of everyone. The Franco-Canadian journalist was kidnapped on April 16, 2004 in Abidjan, without any news, since leaving the worst. He notably investigated financial embezzlement in the cocoa sector of which Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s leading producer. “After years of investigation, the unanswered questions remain numerous,” regretted Arnaud Froger, head of the RSF Africa office in 2019.
