France “acts tirelessly to obtain (the) Liberation” by Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, “hostages of Iran” for three years to the day, said President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday.
“I assure their families with our unwavering support,” adds the head of state. In early April, Paris announced its intention to file a complaint “soon” against Tehran before the International Court of Justice “for violation of the right to consular protection” concerning its two nationals.
For his part, the chief of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot promised on Wednesday to spare “no effort to obtain the liberation of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris”. “It has been three years since our two compatriots Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris were arrested in Iran (…) on May 7, 2022, they were arrested without foundation” he recalls in a video posted on X.
Several support events are organized through France to mark their three years’ imprisonment.
The 40 -year -old teacher of letters from eastern France, and her septuagenarian companion had been arrested on the last day of a tourist trip to Iran. Accused of spying, they are imprisoned in the sinister section 209, reserved for political prisoners, of the prison of Evin de Tehran. “They are (…) imprisoned in the jails of the Iranian regime in inhuman conditions which are torture. This situation is unacceptable,” continues-Jean-Noël Barrot, stressing that these French citizens are “victims of the Iranian regime, victims of arbitrariness, victim of injustice”. “Our mobilization will not weaken. France will not give in,” he says. “With the President of the Republic and all the state services, we are tirelessly fighting for their release.”
-Denouncing a policy of “state hostages” which spares no stranger, he again urges the French not to go to Iran “so as not to take the risk of being themselves arbitrarily detainees”.
In mid-April, on the initiative of France, the European Union had imposed sanctions on the officials of the Iranian prison and judicial services “which implement this state hostage policy”. The French minister announced last month that France was going to seize the International Court of Justice for violation by the Iranian Authorities of Consular Protection to which the two nationals should be entitled. In three years, they have only received four consular visits.
AFP
AFP
