French citizens Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris returned to France on Wednesday after more than three years of detention in Iran. They left Iran by road on Tuesday, right before a tentative ceasefire between the United States and Iran was announced. Kohler and Paris were driven from Iran to neighboring Azerbaijan, a journey that takes about nine hours, before taking a flight to Paris. They were accompanied all the way by France's ambassador to Tehran, Pierre Cochard. Kohler and Paris were arrested in May 2022 while vacationing in Iran and detained in Tehran's Evin prison over spying charges, which France said were unfounded. They were released from prison in November but had been holed up in French diplomatic premises in Tehran as Iranian authorities wouldn't allow them to leave the country. Kohler and Paris described their time in Evin prison as hell, experiencing daily horror.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Kohler and Paris at the Elysee presidential palace. Macron's office said the release is the outcome of a long-term effort, with talks accelerating in recent weeks due to pressure from the Iran war. French authorities thanked Oman for its mediation role to secure the release. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said details of negotiations with Iran would remain confidential.
The court's verdict was unjust and I had done nothing other than stating the truth.
Iran's state-run agency IRNA reported that Iran had reached an agreement with France for the release of both French citizens in exchange for Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari. However, Macron's office denied there was any agreement about a prisoner swap. Esfandiari went back to Iran on Wednesday, one week after Kohler and Paris returned to France. She was sentenced by a Paris criminal court in February to one year in prison with an additional three-year suspended sentence, along with a permanent ban from French territory, over comments she made about the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. Tehran has been pressing since last year for the release of Esfandiari.
On the very same day that they were released ... they (French authorities) released me. They called and said that this (house arrest) restriction has been lifted.