Iran Jails Two French Nationals for Espionage, Accuses Them of Aiding Israeli Intelligence

An Iranian court has sentenced two French citizens to lengthy prison terms after convicting them of espionage for France and Israel, according to the semi-official Fars news agency on Tuesday.

The ruling comes just a week after France and Iran signaled progress in talks to secure the detainees’ release. The two defendants, identified as Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, have been in custody since 2022 and are the only French nationals still held in Iran.

Court documents reportedly accuse one defendant of spying for France, conspiracy to commit a crime against national security, and assisting Israeli intelligence services. The individual received six, five, and twenty years for each of the respective charges. The second defendant was sentenced to ten, five, and seventeen years on similar counts. Both are permitted to appeal to a higher court.

Their sentencing follows the recent acquittal and release of Lennart Monterlos, an 18-year-old French-German cyclist detained earlier this year on espionage allegations.

France has repeatedly condemned the detention of Kohler and Paris as arbitrary, alleging that they are held under inhumane conditions in Tehran’s Evin Prison and denied proper consular access. Iranian authorities have dismissed these claims.

Meanwhile, Tehran has accused France of arbitrarily arresting Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student in Lyon, for posting anti-Israel content online. Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir stated that Iran continues to pursue Esfandiari’s unconditional release despite delays in diplomatic discussions.

In recent years, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained numerous foreign and dual nationals on espionage-related charges — a practice Western governments and rights groups describe as hostage diplomacy, a claim Iran firmly rejects.