France demands immediate release of French couple held in Iran for three years

Paris: France on Thursday demanded the immediate release of two of its citizens held in Iran for more than three years, saying Tehran’s case against them was unfounded.

The French government has accused the Islamic Republic of detaining Cecile Kohler and partner Jacques Paris arbitrarily, keeping them in conditions akin to torture in Tehran’s Evin security prison and barring proper consular protection.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would call the president of Iran over the matter, adding that he had not ruled out taking retaliatory measures.

“It’s a provocation against France and an unacceptable choice of aggression. It’s unacceptable for France,” Macron told reporters.

Agence France Presse reported late on Wednesday that Iran had charged the couple with spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.

No such report has appeared in Iranian state media. In Paris, the Iranian embassy released a statement saying the couple’s case remained under judicial investigation and no decision about the outcome had been taken.

“We demand their immediate release. This is our highest priority,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters in Paris.

Alluding to the report, he added: “If it is indeed confirmed that they are facing these charges, we would consider those charges to be completely unjustified and unfounded.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained dozens of foreign and dual nationals in recent years, often on espionage-related charges. Rights groups and Western countries accuse Tehran of using foreign detainees as bargaining chips, which it denies.

Paris has toughened its language towards Iran in recent months, notably over the advancement of Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme and its military support for Russia, but also over the detention of European citizens in the country.