French pair released by Iran await return home

A French pair released by Iran after over three years in prison on espionage charges their families denied were on Wednesday awaiting permission to be allowed to return to France.

Meanwhile, an Iranian citizen arrested in France in February on charges of promoting "terrorism" on social media, and who Tehran had said could be swapped in the case, was now at Iran's embassy in Paris, the Iranian foreign minister said.

Cecile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72 were arrested in May 2022 at the end of a trip to Iran that their families say was purely touristic in nature.

They were freed from Tehran's Evin prison late on Tuesday in what the Iranian authorities described as a conditional release and immediately taken by French diplomats to France's mission in Tehran. 

They spoke Wednesday morning to President Emmanuel Macron via videoconference, French ambassador to Tehran Pierre Cochard told RTL radio.

"It was very moving for them and for the president. They thanked him for his commitment" to securing their release, he said.

'Conditional release'

In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said late Tuesday the pair had been granted "conditional release" on bail by the judge in charge of the case and "will be placed under surveillance until the next stage of the judicial proceedings."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France 2 TV that their release is "a first step towards their definitive release".

Their sentences on charges of spying for France and Israel issued last month after a closed-door trial amounted to 17 years in prison for Paris and 20 years for Kohler.

Iran, which has previously carried out exchanges of Westerners for Iranians held by the West, had said they could be freed as part of a swap deal with France, which would also see the release of Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari. 

Esfandiari was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting "terrorism" on social media, according to French authorities. 

She is to go on trial in Paris from January 13 but was last month released on bail by the French judicial authorities in a move welcomed by Tehran.

"Our citizen in France, Ms Esfandiari, is now free, she is at our embassy, and hopefully, she will return once her trial is over," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday.

Asked by France 2 if there had been a deal with Tehran, Barrot declined to comment, saying the release had come about "as the fruit of the work of French diplomacy".