France to file case against Iran at world court over detained citizens

A woman walks past posters with the portraits of Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French citizens held in Iran, on the day of support rallies to mark their three-year detention and to demand their release, in front of the National Assembly in Paris, France, May 7, 2025.
A woman walks past posters with the portraits of Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French citizens held in Iran, on the day of support rallies to mark their three-year detention and to demand their release, in front of the National Assembly in Paris, France, May 7, 2025.

France will file a legal complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday over the prolonged detention of two French nationals, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Cécile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been held in Iran since May 2022 on espionage charges that Paris has strongly denied.

French authorities accuse Tehran of subjecting the couple to conditions akin to torture in Tehran’s Evin prison and failing to provide consular access.

“I can confirm that France will bring a case before the International Court of Justice tomorrow,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine.

Iranian state television previously broadcast videos of the two appearing to confess, but France has denounced the footage as the result of forced confessions.

Earlier in the month, French President Emmanuel Macron has referred to the couple as “hostages” and vowed to secure their release, as France and other EU states accuse Iran of engaging in “hostage diplomacy” by detaining foreign nationals to extract political concessions.

An unknown number of international citizens are being held by Tehran, including Europeans.

In January, the European Parliament adopted a motion for a resolution condemning Iran’s detention of European Union citizens, labelling the practice as “hostage diplomacy.”

Iran has denied mistreatment or political motives in the detentions, although reports by rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented the practice extensively, including the use of forced confessions.