On behalf of the “Liberty for Cécile” committee is organized this Wednesday, May 7 at 12:30 p.m. Place Jean-Jaurès (Kiosk side) in Saint-Etienne a rally for the liberation of Cécile Kolher and her companion Jacques Paris, hostages in Iran for 3 years. Nearly 50 rallies are planned everywhere in France this same Wednesday. Freedom for Cécile claims “The immediate release of Cécile and Jacques, hostages in Iran and detained under destructive conditions for 3 years.” In the meantime, the Committee requests that their fundamental rights be respected:
- Access to their consular protection
- Access to independent lawyers mandated by their families
- Their emergency transfer of section 209 to the public section of the prison where the conditions of detention minimize human dignity at least
- More frequent, longer calls without constraint to their families
- Access to books and letters sent by their loved ones.
This couple of teachers, traveling to Iran in May 2022, is accused by Tehran of espionage, liable to the death penalty in Iran, which relatives and the support committee refute firmly. For the past three years, the two French citizens have been deprived of their fundamental and maintained rights under inhuman conditions of detention, reporting for some to torture with regard to international law. Their loved ones therefore mobilize through France to demand their release. A 3e French, Olivier Rondeau, also interned in Iran a few months after them for conspiracy against the State, was released at the end of March.
