Iran gives French couple 63 years in prison on charges of ‘spying’ for Israel

Kohler and Paris were arrested in May 2022 during a vacation trip after meeting with protesting Iranian teachers and attending an anti-government rally, according to Iranian media reports at the time.

By Jewish Breaking News

An Iranian court sentenced two French nationals to a combined 63 years in prison Tuesday on espionage charges that include spying for Israel, complicating prisoner swap negotiations that were reportedly near completion just weeks ago.

Iran’s Revolutionary Court in Tehran convicted one defendant of six years for espionage on behalf of France, five years for conspiracy against national security, and 20 years in internal exile for intelligence cooperation with Israel.

The other received 10 years for spying for France, five years for conspiracy against national security, and 17 years in exile for complicity in intelligence cooperation with Israel, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.

The defendants are believed to be Cécile Kohler, 40, a teachers’ union official, and her partner Jacques Paris, 72, the only two French nationals currently held in Iran.

Iran’s judiciary did not officially name them in Tuesday’s announcement.

Kohler and Paris were arrested in May 2022 during a vacation trip after meeting with protesting Iranian teachers and attending an anti-government rally, according to Iranian media reports at the time.

France has accused Iran of holding Kohler and Paris arbitrarily and keeping them in conditions akin to torture at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison without proper consular access. Iranian authorities deny the accusations.

Under Iranian law, sentences run concurrently, meaning each would serve only their longest single term.

Pre-trial detention will be deducted from the sentences. Both defendants have 20 days to appeal to Iran’s Supreme Court.

The verdicts come more than a month after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in September that a deal to exchange the French detainees for an Iranian woman held in France was nearly complete.

Last week, Iran released 18-year-old French-German cyclist Lennart Monterlos after an Iranian court acquitted him of espionage charges. Monterlos had gone missing in June while traveling through the country.

Iran has been pressing for the release of Mahdieh Esfandiari, a translator living in Lyon since 2018 who was arrested in February on terror-related charges for alleged Telegram posts about the October 7 Hamas massacre against Israel.

Human rights groups say Iran routinely holds tourists and dual nationals as leverage in diplomatic negotiations, releasing them only when Tehran secures something in return.

The regime currently holds around 20 Europeans in detention, including British couple Craig and Lindsay Foreman, who were detained in January while traveling through Iran on a motorcycling world tour and later charged with espionage.

Their family maintains they are innocent and are being held in “horrific conditions.”