The families of French citizens Cécile Kohler, Jacques Paris, and Olivier Grondeau and former French hostages held a gathering in Paris on Saturday to protest their continued detention in Iran.
Cécile Kohler's sister Naomi told Iran International that her sister's conditions in prison are terrible and that interrogators are trying to break her psychologically.
1,000 days have passed since the arrest of French teachers Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris. Grondeau has also been under arrest for 843 days.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for their release. "I am thinking of them and their families, whom I will be receiving soon. Their detention is undignified and arbitrary. We demand their release."
Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris have spent nearly three years in Ward 209 of Tehran’s Evin Prison, their freed compatriot said earlier this month, a secret detention facility notorious for harsh conditions which is operated by the country’s intelligence ministry.
In his first interview since his release in June 2024, Louis Arnaud described the harrowing realities of life in the ward, where prisoners face extreme isolation, constant surveillance and relentless psychological pressure.
“Jacques (Paris) and Cécile (Kohler) have been there for almost three years now,” Arnaud told FRANCE 24.
Prisoners in Ward 209 endure blindfolded interrogations, forced confessions and limited contact with the outside world, according to Arnaud.
The French Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador on January 10 over the issue of French nationals who were "hostages of the state of the Islamic republic of Iran."
"Their situation is unbearable, with undignified detention conditions that, for some, constitute torture under international law," the ministry said, adding that French nationals are advised not to travel to Iran.
