A court in Iran has sentenced two French citizens to long sentences on suspicion of spying for France and Israel, the official judiciary website said on October 14. The announcement comes days after Tehran and Paris suggested progress had been made in a prisoner swap.
One person was sentenced to six years in prison for espionage for the French intelligence service, five years for “conspiracy to commit crimes against national security” and 20 years in internal exile for “suspected intelligence collaboration with Israel.”
The second convict was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of espionage for France, five years for "conspiracy to commit crimes against national security" and 17 years for "aiding and abetting" in collaboration with Israeli intelligence.
According to the announcement, the sentences can be appealed within 20 days.
Although the Iranian judiciary did not name the convicts, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris are the only French citizens known to be currently being held in Iran.
France 24 reported that they were the convicted individuals. In July, the French state broadcaster reported that, according to family members and diplomatic sources, they had been accused of “spying for Israel.”
Kohler and his partner, Paris, were arrested in Tehran in May 2022, as they were at the end of a tourist visit to Iran.
Iranian state media has claimed the couple were linked to the main teachers' union, a claim their families have denied. They have been accused of inciting unrest.
A video broadcast by Iranian state media in October 2022 showed Kohler and Paris “admitting” guilt to espionage. Human rights groups say such confessions, broadcast on television, are forced, and have condemned the practice.
Iran and France have signaled this month about a possible prisoner swap, with officials from both capitals saying talks had made progress on a framework that could secure the release of Kohler and Paris in exchange for Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student who was arrested this year for anti-Israel social media activities.
Another court in Iran acquitted and released Franco-German cyclist Lennart Monterlos last week.
Although United Nations human rights experts have condemned a “dramatic escalation” of executions in Iran, authorities in Iran on October 1 approved harsh penalties for espionage and collaboration with Israel and the United States.
A few days ago, a UN panel found that Iranian authorities had executed over 1,000 people since the beginning of the year, a figure that Amnesty International described as the highest in at least 15 years./REL
