Iran's shameful hostage diplomacy

LeMonde

8 hours ago

Since their arrest in Iran on May 7, 2022, more than three years ago, Cécile Kohler, 40, and Jacques Paris, 72, have been granted only five visits from representatives of the French embassy, each one obtained through fierce negotiation with the Iranian authorities. The most recent visit, on Tuesday, July 1, confirmed that they were alive, two weeks after the Israeli army bombed Evin prison, where the pair were being held.
The first visit did not take place until 200 days after their arrest. At times, there were as many as 11 months between visits. These meetings are typically brief – about 10 minutes – and are held in the presence of French-speaking guards. All these restrictions of consular rights, which prompted France to file a case against Iran at the International Court of Justice, are unacceptable in themselves.
Diplomats who met with the two teachers, arrested the day before they were due to leave Tehran at the end of a 10-day sightseeing trip during the Easter holidays, witnessed their distress, caused by extremely harsh detention conditions that French authorities have equated with torture.
Imprisoned separately and kept in isolation, they have been denied access to reading and writing materials. Their communication with the outside world has been limited and made unpredictable. Paris has been left unable to properly see after losing his glasses, which he has been unable to replace. In October 2022, both were forced to make videotaped "confessions" in which they claimed they had sought to "prepare the overthrow of the Iranian regime" on behalf of the French intelligence services.
Dark machinations
In recent days, Kohler and Paris have been accused of espionage on behalf of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, as well as of conspiracy and corruption. As far-fetched as the first set of charges, these new accusations are even more serious, as they carry the death penalty. They are part of an intensified crackdown by the embattled dictatorship and a hunt for Israeli agents following the strikes carried out by Israel and the US against Iranian nuclear facilities starting June 13. After the bombing of Evin prison, the two French citizens were transferred to other detention sites, and their whereabouts are currently unknown.
Kohler and Paris are, of course, innocent. The teachers have nothing to do with the dark machinations that the Iranian regime claims to involve them in to fuel its hatred of the West; they do not belong in prison. Like some 20 other Europeans or dual nationals who are imprisoned, and like the six other French hostages whom Paris has managed to free one at a time through extremely difficult negotiations since 2020, they are being used as pawns by Tehran to put pressure on their governments – a vile and grim oxymoron known as hostage diplomacy.
On July 3, President Emmanuel Macron threatened Iran with "retaliatory measures" if the charges against Kohler and Paris were upheld. The Europeans notably have the option of reimposing international sanctions that were eased after the 2015 agreement on Iran's nuclear program. The extreme tensions surrounding this topic will not make matters easier, but securing the release of Kohler and Paris must remain a priority.