Elected officials, close to the family, gathered for Cécile Kohler, a 38-year-old teacher and trade unionist, arrested with her companion Jacques Paris in May 2022 while they were sightseeing in Iran. They are accused by Tehran of being spies. Nearly 80 people gathered on Monday on the forecourt of the European Community of Alsace (CEA) with, in the background, a large banner claiming “Freedom for Cécile”, hung on the building of the community. “It is unacceptable that in today’s world we can still experience such terrible situations,” said Frederic Bierry, President (LR) of the ECA on Monday.
Since May, in fact, the parents of Cécile Kohler have only been able to speak to their daughter Cécile once, briefly, in December. “Since then we have had no news, we know absolutely nothing about his condition,” his brother Luc Kohler, 37, told reporters. He explained that she had spent three months in solitary confinement and was then placed in a cell with six fellow prisoners. As for the progress of his file, “we have no information […] We are a little desperate but we are doing everything we can to move the file forward,” he said.
No news
Master Thierry Moser, lawyer for the support committee, pointed out to AFP that Cécile Kohler had only been able to benefit from “a single consular visit” in prison. In addition, “there is no lawyer who can see her confidentially and who can give news to her family”, plunged into a “dark tunnel”.
“We appreciate and respect the work of the Quai d’Orsay but we know that this difficult work must remain in absolute discretion, failing which it risks not producing concrete results”, declared the council.
Other French detained in Iran
For the time being and officially, seven French people are detained in Iran. Among them are the Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in June 2019 then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, as well as Benjamin Brière, arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for espionage. . A Frenchman who also holds Irish nationality, Bernard Phelan, was arrested on October 3. He was then on a trip as part of his consulting activities in Iran for a tour operator.