Two European citizens arrested in Iran are French
The French Foreign Ministry has called for the immediate release of its two citizens in Iran in a statement. The secretary of the French Federation of Education and Culture, a trade union, also said that it is highly likely that the two arrested individuals are employees of the federation.
Reuters reported on Thursday, May 12, citing a member of the French labor union Federation of Education and Culture (FNEC FP-FO) that a French couple had gone missing while on vacation in Iran.
This news was released a day after Iran's Ministry of Intelligence announced that it had arrested two European citizens on charges of "organizing chaos and diverting people's demands" in Iran.
Christophe Lalande, the federation's secretary general, told Reuters he had no news of the two employees. He added that while there was "no certainty" that the two individuals arrested by the Iranian intelligence ministry were the same two federation employees, there was a "strong possibility" that they were.
According to Lalande, the couple had been in Iran on holiday and had been due to return to France earlier this week, but have not been heard from. A diplomat in the region confirmed that the two people arrested by the intelligence ministry are French nationals.
In a statement on Thursday, the French Foreign Ministry called on the Islamic Republic's authorities to immediately release two of its citizens.
According to the statement, the French ambassador to Tehran has asked the Islamic Republic's authorities to provide consular access to these two French cities. The Islamic Republic's ambassador to Paris has also been summoned to the country's Foreign Ministry for explanations.
Identity of the detainees
Neither the Ministry of Intelligence nor Iranian judicial authorities have provided any explanation for the identities of the two arrested European citizens.
Shahid Alavi, an investigative journalist, announced on Twitter that the identities of the two people were Cecile Kohler, head of public relations for the French Federation of Education and Culture of the Labor Union, and her husband, Mr. Kohler.
According to Shahid Alavi, the two men’s work background and the timing of their trip to Iran during the teachers’ protests “made them suitable subjects for the Iranian security apparatus’ security scenario-building and hostage-taking project.” He emphasized, however, that the two traveled to Iran on tourist visas and not as members of the Federation of Education and Culture.
It has also been claimed that these two "had the mission to gain insight into the problems and demands of the noble and hardworking segments of society by justifying, guiding, networking, and connecting corrupt individuals and networks within the country."
From the perspective of political observers, the coincidence of this arrest with the end of the trial of Hamid Nouri, accused of participating in the execution of political prisoners in the 1980s, and the announcement of the final verdict of the accomplices of Asadollah Asadi, the diplomat of the Islamic Republic who planned the bombing of the MeK rally in Paris in 2018 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, cannot be a coincidence.
The Iranian judiciary has also announced that it will execute Ahmadreza Jalali, an Iranian-Swedish citizen accused of espionage, by the end of May.
These coincidences have strengthened speculation that the Islamic Republic is using a hostage-taking policy and intends to exchange prisoners.
Source: DW
