French nationals released from Iranian detention after years
A man holds a placard with the portraits of Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French citizens held in Iran, during a support rally to mark their three-year detention and to demand their release, at Place de la Nation in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. The slogan reads "Freedom for Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris". REUTERS/Abdul Saboor
Iran has released the two French nationals who had been detained in the country for over three years, according to the BBC plus agencies on November 4th.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that Cécile Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, had been released from Evin prison. France’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed that they were both “safe” at the embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
In May 2022, the pair had been arrested during a tourist trip. France has said that Iran is taking hostages and subjecting its nationals to conditions that are close to torture; however, Tehran has denied this accusation.
The couple were among many westerners who have been held. In July, Iran was holding detainees from France, Germany, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
With the number of Europeans being held in Iran reportedly rising, the EU raised its concerns that individuals “continue to be held in degrading conditions with no chance of a fair trial”, on “spurious grounds.”
It was reported on July 3rd that Khohler’s sister explained that the authorities continued to deny the couple access to independent lawyers.
The charges the pair were handed were for allegedly spying for Israel, but the couple’s families have denied the allegations of spying.
In a statement to AFP on November 4th, the couple’s legal team said their release had “ended their arbitrary detention, which lasted 1,277 days.” AFP reported that the families of the pair believe they are entirely innocent. It is believed that these two are the last French nationals to be detained in Iran.
Barrot termed Iran’s imprisonment of Europeans a “state policy.” He also spoke of the conditions many face: “The conditions in which some of our French and European compatriots are being detained are disgraceful and comparable to torture under international law.”
Elsewhere in Europe, a British couple, Lindsay and Craig Foreman, who were also detained in Iran on espionage charges, were arrested in January 2025. After many months of their families hoping to make contact, they managed to speak to them for the first time in August 2025.
BBC plus agencies, AFP, Maghrebi.org
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