The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced this Friday the “false accusations” of espionage against the two French detained in Iran in May.
After uploading a trailer on Thursday, Iranian television on Friday aired “what is presented as the ‘full report’ on the alleged ‘confession’ of our compatriots,” the ministry said in a statement. It calls for the “immediate release” of the two Frenchmen “arbitrarily detained”.
Cécile Kohler, arrested with her partner Jacques Paris, presents herself there as an operational intelligence agent in the Directorate General for External Security (DGSE), the French intelligence services.
“This disgusting video shows false confessions, obtained under duress. France categorically denies these false accusations,” declares the Quai d’Orsay.
espionage charges
Iran had announced on May 11 the arrest of two Europeans “He entered the country with the aim of unleashing chaos and destabilizing society.” The French authorities had denounced his arrest “unfounded” and called for the “immediate release” of him. Tehran then accused two “French trade unionists” arrested in May of “undermining the security” of the country in early July.
In the recording released 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 Islamic regime.”
It was, according to his statements, to finance strikes and demonstrations and even to use weapons “to fight against the police.” According to the man in the video, who also speaks French, the DGSE’s goals “were to put pressure on the government” of Iran.
“State hostages”
The Force Ouvrière union, of which Cécile Kohler is a member, denounced this Friday “meaningless and absurd accusations by the Iranian authorities” against these two French citizens “detained in solitary confinement in Iran for more than five months.”
The general secretary of FO, Frédéric Souillot, also denounces in the press release “the cruel treatment to which they are subjected, no contact, no communication has taken place since their arrest, and calls for their immediate release and their return to France with their families and loved ones.”
The French Foreign Ministry had already reacted strongly on Thursday, saying that “this masquerade reveals the contempt for human dignity that characterizes the Iranian authorities.”
They have been “arbitrarily detained in Iran since May 2022 and as such constitute state hostages,” the Quai d’Orsay said on Thursday.
The ministry denounced “practices worthy of the show trials of the worst dictatorial regimes” and assured that “they will not divert international attention from the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people.”
Source: BFM TV
