France – Liberation, February 14, 2025
It has become a reflex: as soon as her phone beeps, Thérèse Grondeau checks it immediately. She no longer separates from it, consulting it as soon as she wakes up, and it follows her everywhere, from room to room in her Paris apartment. On this late January day, sitting upright and elegantly at the dining table, it’s under her right hand. She apologizes when she looks at the screen again. But she won’t stop. Her phone carries her anticipation and hope. It’s the only way her son, Olivier, 33, locked up more than 5,000 kilometers away in a cell at Evin prison in Tehran, can contact her, usually once a week for a few minutes. Olivier Grondeau is, along with Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, one of the three French hostages held by the Iranian regime.
It was through a phone call that Thérèse Grondeau learned of his arrest. She hadn’t heard from him in several weeks. She was used to it; her son is a traveler, having backpacked through dozens of countries since the end of his studies. But when he knew he might not be able to call for a while, he would let her know. This time, nothing. Until that phone call from a friend. Olivier is no longer at the hostel in Shiraz…
