France – Le Télégramme, August 22, 2024
French teacher Cécile Kohler was arrested in Iran with her partner Jacques Paris in May 2022, without any official charges. Her sister, Noémie Kohler, will speak along with former hostages at the Fête des Vieux Gréements in Paimpol on August 23, 24 and 25.
Your sister, Cécile Kohler, has been held hostage in Iran since May 7, 2022. Can you tell us what happened to her?
She left with her companion Jacques Paris during the spring vacations of 2022, from April 28 to May 8. They were arrested at the end of their stay. We have no information on the exact date or circumstances. Cécile and Jacques sent us messages and photos of their trip every day until May 7. On May 11, the Quai d’Orsay informed us of their arrest. From then on, the urgent task was to locate them and make sure they were all right. We received no sign of life until November 23, 2022, the day of her first consular visit. Ambassador Nicolas Roche was able to see her for 10 minutes under close supervision.
In May 2023, you explained that she didn’t know what she was accused of, does she know more?
There is very little news on this front. We don’t know if there’s been a trial, she doesn’t have access to her lawyers, and we don’t know the exact charges against her. Her fate is not played out in a court of law. Her local lawyers do not have access to her file. The most distressing thing is that we have so little information about her state of health. We are concerned about the consequences of her detention on her physical and psychological health.
Are you in contact with her, and what do you know about her confinement conditions?
She contacts us via very short WhatsApp video calls, often of poor quality, which prevent us from having a proper conversation because of breaks, time lags, etc. She’s under surveillance, her speech is constrained and we feel she’s under a lot of psychological pressure. There’s no point in asking her any questions because we sense that she’s embarrassed; she’s been instructed not to talk about prison conditions.
We exchange words of love and support. We give her news of family and friends, and we can see that it does her good. We used to call every five weeks or so, but her last calls were on April 13 and July 14.
She’s in a section of a high-security wing of Evin prison (in Teheran, editor’s note). She lives cut off from the world, in inhuman conditions, in a 9 m2 cell, with several fellow inmates who change all the time. She sleeps on the floor on blankets and only goes out three times a week for 30 minutes in a courtyard. Books have been sent to her, but she is not entitled to the mail. She had three books already in circulation in prison. She is learning Homer’s Odyssey by heart. We don’t suppose she has anything to write with, because she tells us she’s writing a novel in her head. She is unable to contact the embassy and has only received three consular visits.
On August 23, 24 and 25, you’ll be in Paimpol with former prisoners in Iran to raise public awareness as part of the Fête des Vieux Gréements.
We’ve been mobilizing for two years now, and we’ve noticed that local initiatives are effective in raising awareness and rallying people around the cause of our loved ones. These moments of exchange raise awareness of the fate of our hostages and give us the strength to continue the fight. A strong sense of solidarity quickly emerged in Brittany, with the mobilization of Karine Rivoallan, the former Bâtonnière de Saint-Brieuc, and the SOS Otages association, which is doing fantastic work in collaboration with the festival organizers. The former hostages are fighting for the detainees, and their presence is very important to us.
