Families of French citizens imprisoned in Iran for spying say loved ones have 'reached the limit'

Audio By Carbonatix

PARIS (AP) — The families of two French nationals detained in Iran for more than three years said their loved ones have reached “the limit of what they can endure” following a report that an Iranian court sentenced them to decades in prison on spying charges.

Relatives of Cécile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, said during a Paris news conference Thursday that they received a rare phone call Tuesday in which both detainees described their despair.

“For the first time, they told us clearly that they can’t take any more,” said Kohler’s sister, Noémie Kohler. “A few more weeks are beyond their strength.”

Paris’s daughter, Anne-Laure, quoted her father: “I stare death in the face. It’s not possible anymore.”

On Tuesday, Iran’s judiciary outlet 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 news agency identified the pair as Kohler and Paris and reported sentences widely described as amounting to a combined 63 years. Under Iranian practice, convicts typically serve the longest single term among their charges. The verdicts can be appealed to Iran’s Supreme Court within 20 days.

Defense lawyer Chirinne Ardakani said the families have received no official notification. “In the absence of access to the criminal file or an independent lawyer, we cannot verify whether any sentence has actually been pronounced,” she said, calling the process “a farce, a comedy.”

Kohler and Paris were arrested in May 2022 while visiting Iran. France has denounced their detention as “unjustified and unfounded.”

Mizan said the case was tried behind closed doors, a common feature of Revolutionary Court proceedings that often limit defendants’ access to evidence. Rights groups and Western governments accuse Tehran of using foreign detainees as bargaining chips — an allegation Iran denies.

The reported sentences come amid tensions over another case: Tehran has pressed Paris to release Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian national detained in France. In September, Iran’s foreign minister said the two countries were close to a prisoner swap.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently said there was a “solid prospect” of securing the pair’s release but added he remained “very cautious.”

For the families, the urgency is now existential.

“They are at the end of their rope,” Noémie Kohler said. “They cannot hold on much longer.”

___

Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.