Iran’s state judicial news agency Mizan announced on Tuesday that Iran jailed two French citizens on various charges, including “espionage” on behalf of France and Israel.
Only two French citizens are known to be in Iranian custody, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who were first detained in May 2022.
A teenage Franco-German cyclist, Lennart Montelos, was released last week after a court acquitted him of espionage charges.
What did Mizan say about sentences in Iran?
Mizan and Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that the court convicted both suspects on three separate charges.
One was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for spying on behalf of France, five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit crimes against national security, and 20 years’ imprisonment for assisting Israeli intelligence services.
Another was sentenced to 10 years for spying for France, five years for conspiracy to commit crimes against national security, and 17 years for assisting Israeli intelligence.
Iranian prison sentences run concurrently, meaning that if all prisoners remained standing each prisoner would serve the longest sentence. First instance decisions can be appealed to higher courts.
The report also said the pair were arrested in March 2023, although Kohler and Paris were first detained 10 months before that.
France considers long detention arbitrary
France has lobbied for the release of Kohler and Paris for several years, and accuses Iran of holding them arbitrarily and without trial in conditions similar to torture in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. It has also complained about him not being allowed proper diplomatic access. Iran has denied the allegations.
Tehran is demanding in return the release of Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student living in Lyon, France, who was arrested this year on charges of promoting terrorism linked to anti-Israel posts on social media.
Last month, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi even reported that a prisoner swap deal was close.
Iran calls the allegations against Esfandiari baseless, as does France call Iran’s allegations regarding Kohler and Paris.
The Reuters news agency quoted Asghar Jahangir, a spokesman for the judiciary in Iran, as saying that France had refused to release Esfandiari on temporary bail and that Tehran was “striving for his unconditional release.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained dozens of foreigners and dual citizens in recent years on charges often related to espionage and Israel. Rights groups and Western countries accuse Tehran of using the detainees as a political bargaining tool, which Iran denies.
In news of a comparable case on Tuesday, the family of a British woman said she had been moved to the same Evin prison as her husband after reports of protests and a hunger strike amid unsanitary conditions at a women’s detention facility.
Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52, were detained in January as they passed through Kerman in central Iran on an around-the-world motorcycle trip.
His relatives are expected to meet British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper later this week to discuss the matter.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar