Iran charges French detainees Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris with spying for Israel
Two French nationals detained for more than three years in Iran have
been charged with "spying" for Israel's intelligence agency Mossad,
diplomatic and family sources said Wednesday, adding that the pair had
also been charged with conspiring to overthrow the regime.
French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris have been charged with "spying" for Israel, a Western diplomatic source and family sources told AFP.
Iranian
officials have also charged the pair with "conspiracy to overthrow the
regime" and "corruption on earth", the diplomatic source and Kohler's
sister told AFP.
"All we know is that they have seen a judge who confirmed the three charges," said Kohler's sister.
News
of the charges comes a day after a French diplomat was able to visit
the two French nationals, whose families had demanded proof that they
were alive after Israeli strikes
The French foreign ministry did not specify where the visit occurred, amid uncertainty over the couple's whereabouts.
The
fate of Kohler and Paris had been unknown since Israel targeted
Tehran's Evin prison in an air strike last week, before a US-proposed
ceasefire between the Middle East foes came into force.
Iran's judiciary said the Israeli strike on the prison had killed at least 79 people.
It
has also said the Iranian prison authority transferred inmates out of
Evin prison, without specifying their number or identifying them.
Several
women prisoners have been transferred to Qarchak prison for women
outside Tehran, which has a notorious reputation for its conditions.
Kohler, 40, and Paris, her 72-year-old partner, have been held in
Iran since May 2022 on espionage charges their families reject.
Iran
is believed to hold around 20 European nationals, many of whose cases
have never been publicised, in what some Western governments including
France describe as a strategy of hostage-taking aimed at extracting
concessions from the West.
Three Europeans, who have not been
identified, have also been arrested in the wake of the current conflict,
two of whom are accused of spying for Israel, according to the
authorities.
