After weeks of protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, is the Iranian regime trying to create a diversion? The moment seems in any case chosen with care for the Arabic-speaking channel al-Alam, which broadcast this Thursday morning what it presents as “confessions” of espionage by two French people arrested in May in Iran. In the video broadcast by the al-Alam site, a young woman speaking French claims to be called Cécile Kohler and to be an operational intelligence agent at the General Directorate of External Security, that is to say to the French intelligence services.
Iran announced on May 11 the arrest of two Europeans “who entered the country with the aim of triggering chaos and destabilizing society”. The French authorities then denounced an “unfounded” arrest and demanded their “immediate release”. Tehran then accused in early July of “undermining the security” of the country two “French trade unionists” arrested in May.
A dozen Western citizens detained
A French trade union source had identified them as Cécile Kohler, an official of the Fnec FP-FO teachers’ union, and her spouse Jacques Paris. She specified that they were sightseeing in Iran during the Easter holidays at the time of their arrest. In the recording released on Thursday, the woman claims that she and her husband were in Iran “to prepare the conditions for the revolution and the overthrow of the Iranian regime”.
They were to, again according to his declarations, finance strikes and demonstrations and even use weapons “if necessary to fight against the police”. According to the man shown in the video, who also speaks French, the goals of the DGSE are to “put pressure on the government” of Iran. More than a dozen nationals of Western countries, mostly dual nationals, either detained or stranded in Iran, which NGOs condemn as a policy of hostage-taking to obtain concessions from foreign powers.