Portraits of French nationals Cecile Kohler (L) and her partner French national Jacques Paris (C) outside the Palais Bourbon, France’s National Assembly, Paris, March 25, 2025 (Bertrand Guay/AFP)

UPDATE, NOV 7:

Iran has released on bail French political prisoners Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, detained since May 2022 and condemned last month to long prison sentences.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Kohler, 41, and Paris, 72, had been granted “conditional release” by the judge in charge of the case and “will be placed under surveillance until the next stage of the judicial proceedings”.

The pair were effectively exchanged for Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student arrested in France earlier this year over anti-Israel social media posts. She was released from detention in October, soon after the sentencing of Kohler and Paris.

President Emmanuel Macron posted on Tuesday that the French duo were “out of the Evin jail and en route to the French Embassy in Tehran”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Kohler and Paris are in “good health” at the French Ambassador’s residence but declined to give details on when they would be allowed to leave Iran.

ORIGINAL ENTRY, OCT 17: Iran’s authorities have condemned French political prisoners Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris to lengthy prison sentences for “espionage”.

Without naming the pair, Iranian outlets said one French citizen was given terms of six years for spying on behalf of France, five years for conspiracy to commit a crime against national security, and 20 years for assisting Israeli intelligence services.

The other was handed 10 years in prison for spying on behalf of France, five for conspiracy, and 17 for aiding Israel.

Kohler and her partner Paris were detained since May 2022 during a tourist trip, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized foreign and dual nationals for political leverage.

The Iranian judiciary has never produced any evidence against the pair in public.

French officials criticized the sentences as unfounded and arbitrary punishment. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux told reporters:

I would like to spare a special thought for our compatriots Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who have been detained for more than three years in Iran.

Both were arbitrarily sentenced just the day before yesterday to very long prison terms. The charges against them, whatever they may be, are completely unfounded. We call for their immediate release.

The Iranian and French Governments indicated only a week ago that there was progress in talks to free the pair. French-German cyclist Lennart Monterlos was released last week after a court acquitted him of espionage charges.

Iran’s State outlets have tried to rationalize the sentences by pointing France’s detention of Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student arrested this year over anti-Israel social media posts.