“An absolute emergency, their health is deteriorating”: families of French prisoners in Iran appeal to UN

Supporters of three French prisoners in Iran – Cecile Kohler, Jacques Paris and Louis Arnault – appealed to the UN in Geneva on Monday asking to put pressure on Tehran and draw attention to their fate. Noémie Kohler, Cécile’s sister, who has been detained for just over two years along with her partner Jacques Paris, hopes to draw international attention “to the situation of our loved ones, our loved ones hostages in Iran” and speed up their release.

“Today this is an absolute emergency, their health is deteriorating and it is time to end this nightmare,” she explained to AFP outside UN headquarters. “This is very important for us, we really need recognition of their situation, their arbitrary detention and (…) their release as quickly as possible,” added Sylvie Arnault, Louis’ mother.

The consultant, who had been in custody for more than a year and a half, was sentenced in November to five years in prison for propaganda and endangering the security of the Iranian state. The verdict was declared “unacceptable” by France. Cécile Kohler, a teacher of modern literature, was arrested during a trip to Iran with her companion Jacques Paris on May 7, 2022, officially for “espionage.”

Their relatives and lawyers came to Geneva to contact the working group on arbitrary detention, consisting of independent experts authorized by the UN Human Rights Council. “Our demonstration is to declare that the detention of Cécile Kohler, Jacques Paris and Louis Arnault does not meet these criteria (those that comply with the international conventions adopted by Iran, editor’s note) and that their detention should therefore be qualified as arbitrary.” “, one of them explained. lawyers Martin Pradel.

“The conditions of their detention are extremely harsh”

“We are in a hurry because we know that the conditions of their detention are extremely harsh,” the lawyer insisted, hoping for a quick response from the working group “by the summer.” In his opinion, the expert opinion “will also give France the opportunity to protest a little differently, saying: we are not the only ones, we, the French, who consider this situation to be abnormal.”

“We want the French head of state to understand that he will now have to get angry by simply saying that this situation is unacceptable,” Mr Pradel added.

French diplomacy did not hesitate to speak out on the occasion of the second anniversary of the detention of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, condemning “this state policy of hostage-taking and this constant blackmail of the Iranian authorities.” An accusation that was little appreciated in Tehran, which condemned the “interventionist and inappropriate” position.

Another Frenchman named Olivier, whose identity has not been made public, is also detained, as are dozens of foreign prisoners, often with dual citizenship.