Jacques Paris, Cécile Kohler, and Louis Arnaud have been detained in Iran since 2022. Another Frenchman, named Olivier, whose identity has not been revealed, is also detained.
Relatives of French people detained in Iran expressed their concern on Wednesday about the threat of open conflict between Iran and Israel and urged the State to intensify its diplomatic efforts with Tehran to obtain their release. “Their state of health, both physical and moral, is deteriorating," underline the support committees of Jacques Paris, Cécile Kohl, and Louis Arnaud in a press release. They recall that at the start of their detention "already, their lives had been put in danger by a violent fire in Evin prison." They cannot "be the victims of political games," they write, adding that they cannot 'neglect the security of our other compatriots'. The French government considers them as "state hostages" due to arrests and convictions deemed "arbitrary."