France – Le Cafe Pedagogique, May 06, 2025
May 7, 2022 – May 7, 2025: For three years now, our colleagues Cécile Kohler, a literature teacher, and Jacques Paris, a retired mathematics teacher, have been imprisoned in Evin Prison in Iran, accused of espionage. Their families, friends, and colleagues continue to fight tirelessly for their release and are taking various actions to ensure they are not forgotten. Several gatherings are scheduled across France this Wednesday, May 7, to mark this tragic anniversary, including the release of a book of messages “of support and hope,” titled Jamais sans Cécile – Hostage in Iran since 2022. Noémie Kohler, Cécile’s sister, and Elodie Pinel, a philosophy teacher and friend of Cécile, spoke to Le Café pédagogique.
On May 7, 2022 — three years ago today — your sister Cécile and her partner Jacques Paris were arrested and imprisoned in Iran on charges of “espionage.” Can you remind us of the context of their arrest?
Noémie Kohler: Cécile and Jacques traveled to Iran during the 2022 Easter holidays to visit the country. Cécile had dreamed of visiting Iran for years, and Jacques had already been there before. They followed a standard tourist itinerary and sent photos to our family WhatsApp group every day. Their last sign of life was on the morning of May 7. When Cécile didn’t show up for work the following week, her colleagues became worried and contacted us. Shortly afterward, the French Foreign Ministry (Quai d’Orsay) informed my parents of their arrest. We then spent nearly seven months without any word, not knowing where they were being held or their condition. We didn’t even know if they were still alive. To this day, we still have no information about the circumstances of their arrest. What we do know is that they were taken by the Iranian authorities and are being held hostage by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Since then, both have been held in Evin Prison in Tehran under harsh conditions that you described to the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee in early March. Can you tell us more?
N.K.: Cécile and Jacques are currently held separately in Evin Prison, in a high-security section known as Ward 209, which is controlled by the intelligence services and operates outside the standard prison system. Detainees there are subjected to isolation and torture, as detailed by Narges Mohammadi in her book White Torture.
