Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, a French couple detained in Iran since 2022 and accused by the authorities of“espionage”are “in good health”assured Iranian justice on Tuesday, cited by theAFPbrushing aside accusations of mistreatment of their families.
Read also: French people detained in Iran: “900 days of suffering”, denounces the family of Cécile Kohler
On May 7, 2022, Cécile Kohler, a professor of modern literature then aged 39, was arrested during a trip to Iran with her companion Jacques Paris, a former mathematics professor from Nantes. They are accused by Tehran of being spies. Espionage is punishable by death in Iran.
Terrible detention conditions according to families
The couple are being held separately at the high-security Evin prison in Tehran and their families have had little news during phone calls that last only a few minutes, according to their relatives. “These two people are detained in good conditions and in good health”declared the spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary, Asghar Jahangir, during a press conference in Tehran. Claims immediately denied by those close to Cécile Kohler in a press release.
His sister, Noémie, described last August to West France the terrible conditions of her detention. “Cécile is only allowed three 30-minute outings per week, in a courtyard. This is extremely little. She is in a small cell that she shares randomly with other women and where she sleeps on the floor on a blanket”she related.
The couple went on a trip to Iran in spring 2022. At the end of their stay, they were arrested by the authorities. Their relatives went without news for seven months before a video of them was broadcast by Iranian state television.
“State hostages”
A third Frenchman, named Olivier but whose last name has not been made public, has also been detained in Iran since 2022. Paris describes these prisoners as“state hostages”.
The head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, received the families of the three French people in October and assured them of “mobilization of the French authorities to obtain their immediate release”.
Iran, which detains several Western or binational nationals, is accused by their supporters and NGOs of using them as a bargaining chip in state-to-state negotiations.
Diplomatic crisis with Berlin
On October 28, Iran announced the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, a naturalized German dissident, provoking a diplomatic crisis with Berlin which closed the three Iranian consulates in Germany, recallsAFP.
He was sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in an attack in Iran, which claimed the lives of 14 people and injured some 300 in April 2008. Iran does not recognize dual nationality for its nationals.
This Tuesday, Tehran, however, claimed that Jamshid Sharmahd had died before he could be executed.
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