Macron announces release of two French citizens jailed in Iran on spying charges

Two French nationals have been released from an Iranian prison after more than 3 years in detention on spying charges, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on November 4.

Macron expressed “huge relief” at the release of Cécile Kohler, 41, and her partner Jacques Paris, 72, who were arrested in May 2022 while visiting Iran, Caliber.Az reports per CNN.

Paris had previously denounced their imprisonment as “unjustified and unfounded.”

“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.”

Last month, Iranian media reported 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.

By Khagan Isayev