It is another sad birthday that Cécile Kohler will experience this Wednesday, September 25. For the third consecutive year, the Alsatian teacher, originally from Soultz, will spend her birthday in the dungeons of Evin prison in Iran. She and her partner, Jacques Paris, have been detained there since May 7, 2022. The two Frenchmen are considered “state hostages” by the French authorities.
On the occasion of the 40the Cécile’s birthday, her support committee is organizing a rally this Wednesday at 5 p.m. in front of the Iranian embassy, located at 4 avenue d’Iéna in Paris, to once again demand her release. “As always, and even more so this time given the location, this rally is intended to be strictly peaceful and apolitical,” says the support committee for Cécile, which invites the population to “write a message to Cécile for her birthday.” “The message should be addressed exclusively to Cécile, and should not contain any mention that could be perceived as an attack on the Iranian regime. The goal is for us to have as many messages as possible to send to Cécile. We are still unable to send her mail, but we will try anyway,” adds the committee, which invites people who already have a “Freedom for Cécile” t-shirt or bag to wear them to this rally.
On Saturday, September 28, Amnesty Alsace will also organize a demonstration on the steps of Erstein town hall, following its general meeting at 3:30 p.m., to demand the release of the Alsatian teacher.
Thierry Moser’s appeal to Alsatian lawyers
Cécile’s last phone call to her family, her sister Noémie and her brother Robin, was on Monday, September 16. “She is true to herself and remains combative and positive. She shows extraordinary strength. She thanks all the people who are mobilizing for her. Knowing that she is also supported helps her to hold on, even if she is not yet aware of everything that is being implemented in all four corners of France,” the hostage’s family said via the support committee.
Working voluntarily with the family, Mulhouse lawyer Thierry Moser “is launching an appeal [s]colleagues of the Alsace bar so that they would be willing to be concerned about the scandal represented by the incarceration of our French hostages in Iran.” “Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris were arrested in Iran on May 7, 2022, without any serious basis and have been incarcerated for almost 900 days. The Iranian authorities are depriving them of the most basic rights of defense, which is scandalous. No trial has taken place,” recalls Me Moser, who emphasizes that “lawyers are very attached to respecting fundamental freedoms and must therefore express their disapproval of this situation. I would like to remind you that Cécile Kohler is our compatriot from Alsace and deserves all the more that we take an interest in her fate and that of the other hostages. It is high time that this totally unacceptable situation ends,” concludes Thierry Moser.