France – Le Nouvel Obs, February 26, 2025
Three French hostages remain detained in Iran: Cécile Kohler, Jacques Paris, and Olivier Grondeau, all accused of espionage by Tehran. Despite efforts from their families and the French Foreign Ministry, their situation continues to worsen.
What goes through Cécile Kohler’s mind in her 9-square-meter cell, where she has been held for over a thousand days? Can she sleep on the hard, cold floor, covered only by a folded blanket, with no fresh air and nothing but the harsh white neon lights overhead, glaring 24 hours a day? What does she whisper to her two fellow detainees? Is she even allowed to whisper? Are they tourists like her, or protesters from the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement who were also in the wrong place at the wrong time? Have they, like this 40-year-old French teacher, been accused of being spies working for “Western forces plotting to overthrow the Iranian regime,” forced into making coerced confessions?
What do her jailers tell her—those who control and decide everything, from her brief walks (three times ten minutes per week) to her access to hygiene facilities? What are the conditions each time they allow her to speak to her loved ones in France? Because there are always conditions. Does she know that only three French nationals remain imprisoned in Evin, Tehran’s notorious prison?
