French pair face long jail terms over 'spying' in Iran

Alleged Israeli collaborators sentenced but yet to be identified

Iran is widely suspected of taking foreign citizens hostage for political ends. EPA

Two French citizens have been handed long prison sentences in Iran after being convicted on spying charges.

The pair were found guilty of espionage on behalf of France, intelligence co-operation with Israel and conspiracy to commit crimes against Iran's national security, a judiciary website reported.

A court in Tehran sentenced each to at least 17 years in jail on the charges of working with Israel, and five to 10 years on the other allegations.

Iranian state media did not identify the pair. A French couple, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, have been detained since 2022 on spying charges despite France pressuring Iran to release them.

It has yet to be established whether Ms Kohler, 41, and Mr Paris, 72, were the two French citizens concerned. Tehran has previously signalled it could swap the couple for an Iranian woman, Mahdieh Esfandiari, detained in France.

Iran is widely suspected of using US and European citizens as hostages to extract concessions from the West, notably on sanctions and its nuclear activities. Relations are at a low ebb after France, Britain and Germany acted jointly to restore UN nuclear sanctions on Iran.

A teenager with French and German citizenship, Lennart Monterlos, was detained by the regime on spying charges during the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, but was released last week after being cleared by an Iranian court. His family had maintained his innocence.

"I have not forgotten Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, whose immediate release we demand," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said as he announced the release of Mr Monterlos on October 8.

Iran has reported scores of arrests of alleged Israeli spies since the air war in June, which ended in a ceasefire after the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites and Iran attacked a Qatari airbase that houses American forces.

Last month, Iran's judiciary said it had executed "one of the most important" Israeli spies, identified as Bahman Choubi Asl. He was alleged to have held 63 face-to-face meetings with Mossad officers during nine trips abroad.

A human rights group said last month that Iran has executed at least 1,000 people so far in 2025, the highest figure in about 20 years.