A woman holds a placard with a picture of Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris during a rally for Kohler’s birthday at Place de la Nation in Paris in September 2025. The couple has been released, French authorities announced. File Photo by Mohammed Badra/EPA
April 7 (UPI) — Two French people held in Iran for nearly four years have been allowed to leave the country and return home, French authorities announced Tuesday.
“Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to French territory, after three and a half years of detention in Iran. This is a relief for all of us and obviously for their families,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X. “Thank you to the Omani authorities for their mediation efforts, to the State services, and to the citizens who mobilized tirelessly and thus contributed to their return.”
The couple, both teachers, were convicted of espionage after a trial the French government said was “completely unfounded” and “arbitrary.”
Kohler, 41, is a high school literature teacher, and her partner, Paris, is a retired teacher in his 70s. They were arrested during a tourist trip to Iran in 2022. They were imprisoned in the Evin prison, which is where political prisoners and dissidents are kept.
They were allowed four consular visits over the three years after their arrest. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said their conditions were like “torture.”
Kohler and Paris were convicted in 2025 of spying for French intelligence services, conspiring to undermine Iran’s national security and cooperating with Israeli intelligence services. Kohler was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Paris was sentenced to 17, the French government said.
After intense negotiations, a month later they were released but couldn’t leave Iran. They moved into the French Embassy in Tehran.
Their families and friends have rallied for them over the years and kept their images with the word “freedom” posted on the gates of the French National Assembly and other ministry buildings.
Once the war in Iran began, French authorities intensified negotiations with Iran to get the pair out of the country. They wouldn’t disclose if anything was given to Iran in exchange, The New York Times reported.
Macron announced the release at a health summit in Lyon. He said they were “free and on their way back to France. This is wonderful news,” The Times reported. When the announcement was made in the National Assembly, lawmakers stood and applauded.
Barrot announced on X that Kohler and Paris “have finally left Iran and are now permanently FREE. On the phone just a few moments ago, they expressed to me their emotion and their joy at soon reuniting with their country and their loved ones.”
They were expected to arrive in Paris on Wednesday.
In March 2025, Iran released French tourist Olivier Grondeau, who was held for two years of a five-year sentence for spying. His family had said he was a passionate fan of Persian poetry and was on a tourist visa as part of a world tour.