Kohler and Paris have been imprisoned in Iran since May 2022 on spying costs. [Getty/file photo]
Iran stated on Tuesday that French couple Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who’ve been imprisoned since 2022, are in “good well being” and denied current claims that their situation has deteriorated.
Kohler and Paris have been imprisoned in Iran since May 2022 on costs of espionage, which is punishable by loss of life within the Islamic Republic.
In October 2022, Iranian state tv broadcast what it referred to as a “confession to espionage” by two detainees.
The French authorities condemned the printed as “shameful, revolting and unacceptable” and labeled the pair “hostages of the state.”
Last month, dozens of individuals protested in Paris over what Kohler’s sister, Noémie Kohler, described because the couple’s “alarming” bodily and psychological situation.
Noemi Kohler stated in a phone interview with AFP that the couple, who’re within the high-security Evin jail, are “solely allowed to exit thrice per week, not often see the sunshine of day, and stay on the ground with out a mattress.” I’m sleeping,” he stated. . ”
She additionally claimed that their legal professionals had been by no means allowed to satisfy with them.
But Jahangir stated the couple was “in touch with their family by the consulate,” including that they “have all human and authorized rights.”
european in iran
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrault beforehand met with households of French nationals held in Iran and stated his authorities was calling for his or her quick launch.
They are amongst European passport holders detained in Iran, a few of whom are twin nationals. Iran doesn’t acknowledge twin citizenship.
On October 28, Iran executed Jamshid Sharmahad, a 69-year-old German-Iranian who was sentenced to loss of life in February 2023 on the capital offense of “corruption on earth.”
Sharmahad was beforehand convicted of involvement within the 2008 mosque bombing within the southern metropolis of Shiraz that killed 14 folks and injured 300.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Verbock stated Sharmahad’s killing confirmed that “an inhumane regime is in charge of Tehran” and condemned the execution, saying it “could have severe penalties”. I swore.
Bourbock later introduced the closure of three Iranian consulates in Germany due to the executions, a transfer that prompted “robust protests” from Tehran.
Several different Europeans stay held in Iran, which has performed a number of prisoner exchanges with Europe and the United States in recent times, many brokered by Oman and Qatar.
In June, Iran exchanged a former Iranian official held in Sweden, a European Union diplomat and a second Swede in a prisoner swap brokered by Oman.
In 2023, Oman additionally facilitated the discharge of six Europeans held in Iran, together with Belgian help employee Olivier Vandecaster, who had been convicted of espionage and had been detained for greater than a 12 months. .