PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that two French nationals have been released from an Iranian prison after more than 3 years in detention on spying charges which Paris said were unfounded.
Macron expressed “huge relief” at the release of Cécile Kohler, 41, and her partner Jacques Paris, 72.
“I welcome that first step,” Macron wrote on X, adding that the dialogue with Iranian authorities is continuing to allow them to return to France “as soon as possible.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on X that Kohler and Paris were both “safe” at the French Residence in Tehran while awaiting their “definitive release.”
Kohler and Paris were arrested in May 2022 while visiting Iran. Paris had denounced their detention as “unjustified and unfounded.”
The relatives of Kohler and Paris recently described both detainees’ despair after they received a rare phone call from them.
Iran media reported last month that a court had sentenced the pair to decades in prison on spying charges.
Iran’s judiciary news agency Mizan said a Revolutionary Court in Tehran issued a preliminary verdict against two French citizens for “working for French intelligence” and “cooperating with Israel,” without naming them. The semiofficial Fars agency later identified them as Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris and said the court imposed cumulative terms totaling 63 years across multiple counts.
Western nations have accused Iran of using foreign prisoners as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects.
