France – Le Senat, January 23, 2025
President Cédric Perrin, accompanied by vice-presidents Catherine Dumas, Rachid Temal, Akli Mellouli, and Michelle Gréaume, met with Noémie Kohler, sister of Cécile Kohler, a teacher arrested in Iran on May 7, 2022, along with her companion Jacques Paris, and held in isolation since then.
Noémie Kohler is fighting with remarkable courage to secure her sister’s release. The conditions of Cécile’s detention—being held in a cell lit day and night, limited consular visits, and sporadic communication with her family—violate all international conventions.
Subjected to a mockery of justice, Cécile Kohler is, in reality, a victim, like Jacques Paris and Olivier Grondeau, of a recurrent Iranian practice of using innocent foreign citizens as bargaining chips in negotiations with their home countries.
This method must be denounced for what it is: hostage-taking, along with despicable blackmail.
The committee is committed to continuing to support these hostages and denounce the inhumane treatment they are enduring until the Iranian authorities release them unconditionally.
