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 told AFP on Wednesday, July 2. They have also been charged with "conspiracy to overthrow the regime" and "corruption on earth", the Western diplomatic source and the sister of Cécile Kohler, who is being detained along with Jacques Paris, told AFP.
"We have been informed of these accusations," the diplomatic source said. "All we know is that they have seen a judge who confirmed the three charges," said Kohler's sister, who said the two French nationals were still being denied access to independent lawyers. All three charges carry the death penalty. Iran had previously claimed the two had been arrested for spying but had not revealed exactly whom. Tehran has not confirmed the new charges.
"These charges, if they are confirmed, are completely unfounded," the French diplomatic source told AFP. "Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are innocent," the source added, demanding that the pair are given access to lawyers. The news came a day after the French chargé d'affaires in Iran was able to visit the pair in prison.
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.
Kohler, 40, and Paris, her 72-year-old partner, have been held in Iran since May 2022. Iran is believed to hold around 20 European nationals, many of whose cases have never been publicized, 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.