What is the Islamic Republic Seeking?

Two French trade unionists are languishing in Iran’s notorious Evin prison in Tehran!  

January 31, 2025 marked the thousandth day of the detention and imprisonment of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French teachers’ union activists. This day is also the 843rd day of the arrest of Olivier Grandjean, a French tourist whose identity has recently been revealed. Who are these French citizens? And what is the Islamic Republic seeking by arresting them?

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On January 29, 2025, the issue of the hostage-taking of French citizens by the Islamic Republic was one of the topics raised in the public session of the French Senate. Rachid Temal, a French senator, questioned Jean-Noël Barrot, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, regarding the French government’s policies towards the Islamic Republic.

In response to the Senate, Barrot stated that a very strong message has recently been sent to the authorities of the Islamic Republic by the French government that without the release of these three French citizens, no negotiations will take place and no sanctions will be lifted. The French Foreign Minister also stated that a week ago in Brussels, at the European Parliament, he requested sanctions against officials of the Islamic Republic who were involved in the arrest and imprisonment of these three French citizens.

According to Barrot, the conditions imposed on these three French citizens are torture, and Cécile Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, have been denied access to French officials for more than a year.

Barrot also mentioned Olivier Grandjean, who, although in a different situation, also took a great risk last month by revealing his identity.

Who are the Three French Hostages in Iranian Prisons?

Cécile Kohler is from Soultz in the Alsace region and is currently 40 years old. She is a professor of Modern Literature at a high school in Paris. According to Cécile’s sister, she loves to travel and has been talking about traveling to Iran for more than ten years. Jacques Paris, who is now spending his 71st birthday in Evin Prison, is a retired mathematics teacher.

They had travelled to Iran for a leisure trip and were arrested on May 7, 2022, as they were about to return to France. Later, the Islamic Republic accused them of “espionage” and published images of meetings of the two with civil activists in Iran. Meetings that mostly took place in public spaces.

According to French news agencies and statements by French officials, the conditions of Cécile Kohler’s detention are similar to “torture.” She is being held in an eight-meter cell without windows that has artificial light.

The first contact of the two with their families was made after seven months of silence. From the moment of the arrest of the two, there was a news blackout for 200 days. Both of them are being held in the security ward 209 of Evin Prison.

The third French citizen who is being held in the Islamic Republic’s prison is Olivier Grandjean, whose identity was recently revealed in French media by sending a voice file. Olivier is a 34-year-old tourist who was arrested on October 12, 2022, in the city of Shiraz and has been imprisoned ever since.

The Islamic Republic has also accused Olivier Grandjean of “espionage” and sentenced him to five years in prison.

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