France's president announced two nationals walked free from Evin Prison following three years of detention, Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. Emmanuel Macron's statement came as Fars News Agency distributed footage showing Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian held in France on paramilitary support charges, being released in what appears to be a coordinated exchange.
Macron stated without providing release details: "Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who had been detained in Iran for three years, have been released from Evin Prison and are on their way to the French Embassy in Tehran."
Mizan, the Iranian Judiciary's outlet, reported this October that two French citizens received heavy sentences for "espionage" and "intelligence cooperation with Israel." Though unnamed in the Judiciary's announcement, independent reporting and French officials confirmed the sentences applied to Kohler and Paris.
Authorities arrested the couple in 2022 after they traveled to Iran. That May, state television broadcast a segment connecting their detention to teacher protests, accusing Kohler, a member of the Education and Culture Federation of the French Labor Union, and her husband Paris of "organizing unrest and disorder" while linking them to union activists Eskandar Lotfi, Masoud Nik-Khah, Sha'ban Mohammadi, and Rasoul Bodaghi.
Throughout their imprisonment, relatives and the French government rejected all accusations and demanded their immediate release, HRANA reported.
