France Demands ‘Immediate’ Release of French Citizens Detained in Iran
France’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement demanding that the Islamic Republic immediately release French citizens who have been detained “arbitrarily” in Iran. France also called on its nationals to leave Iran as soon as possible.
France reiterated that what the Islamic Republic presented as a “complete report” regarding the alleged “confessions” of Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French citizens imprisoned in Iran, is completely false.
In a statement published on Friday, September 6, on the French Foreign Ministry’s website, it stated: “This report contains false confessions that were made under pressure.”
The statement described the “forced confession” video of the French couple as “disgusting” and added: “France categorically rejects these false accusations and demands the immediate release of French citizens who have been arbitrarily detained in Iran.”
The Islamic Republic released forced confessions from the French couple on Thursday, September 5, accusing them of espionage. The couple had been detained in Iran five months earlier.
France’s Foreign Ministry immediately reacted the same day after the broadcast of the forced confessions from the French couple, accusing the Islamic Republic of “state hostage-taking.”
Cecile Kohler, a member of the Education and Culture Federation of the French Labor Union, and her husband Jacques Paris, who had traveled to Iran on tourist visas, were detained on April 1 of this year, coinciding with “International Workers’ Day,” by security forces of the Islamic Republic on charges of “espionage.”
In addition to the aforementioned French couple, Fariba Adelkhah, an Iranian-French researcher who was detained in June 2019, and Benjamin Briere, a 36-year-old French citizen detained in 2020, have also been sentenced to prison by the Islamic Republic’s security institutions on similar security charges.
Meanwhile, on Friday, France’s Foreign Ministry updated its travel advice to Iran, warning of the risk of “arbitrary detention” and “unfair trials” of French nationals, including dual citizens, and called on its citizens to leave Iran as soon as possible.
Earlier that day, the Dutch Foreign Minister warned about travel of Dutch citizens to Iran and called on all Dutch nationals to immediately leave Iran.
The broadcast of forced confessions from imprisoned French citizens comes on the eve of the European Union’s decision to impose sanctions on individuals and institutions involved in the death of Mahsa Amini and the “widespread suppression” of public protests in Iran.
For years, the Iranian government has used foreign citizens by accusing them of espionage as hostages to obtain concessions and fulfill its demands.
The Islamic Republic has previously forced Iranian and foreign prisoners to make forced confessions; statements that they later strongly denied after their release and declared that they were forced to confess under duress and threats.
Source: Radio Farda
