By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) -France condemned on Thursday the lengthy prison sentences given to two of its citizens for espionage, saying the charges were unfounded and the punishment arbitrary.
Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been detained since 2022, among dozens of foreign and dual nationals held by Iran in recent years, often on spy-related charges.
Rights groups and Western nations say they are being used as bargaining chips, which Iran denies.
“I would like to spare a special thought for our compatriots Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who have been detained for more than three years in Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux told reporters.
“Both were arbitrarily sentenced just the day before yesterday to very long prison terms. The charges against them, whatever they may be, are completely unfounded. We call for their immediate release.”
The semi-official Fars news agency said on Tuesday the two had been sentenced, despite Paris and Tehran indicating progress in talks to release them a week ago.
Without specifically naming Kohler or Paris, the court sentenced one French citizen to six years in prison for spying on behalf of France, five years for conspiracy to commit a crime against national security, and 20 years for assisting Israeli intelligence services, Fars reported.
The other was handed 10 years in prison for spying on behalf of France, five for conspiracy, and 17 for aiding Israel.
France has repeatedly protested about their case, saying Kohler and Paris were in conditions akin to torture in Tehran’s Evin prison and had been denied proper consular protection.
Iran has denied those accusations.
Tehran, in turn, has accused France of arbitrarily detaining Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student arrested this year over anti-Israel social media posts.
An 18-year-old French-German cyclist arrested this year, Lennart Monterlos, was released last week by Iran after a court acquitted him of espionage charges.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
