Families rally for French held in Iran

PARIS: Families of the French citizens jailed in Iran held a rally on Saturday to urge their release, warning that their loved ones were enduring a sometimes years-long “inhuman” psychological and physical ordeal.

Seven French citizens are currently held by Iran, according to the French foreign ministry. They are among two dozen foreign nationals campaigners say Iran has jailed in a strategy of hostage-taking to extract concessions from the West.

The scaling down of contacts between the West and Iran over the crackdown on the protests that erupted in September and the freezing of talks to revive the deal over its nuclear programme have further complicated efforts to secure their release.

The rally in Trocadero Square, central Paris, the first such to be organised in France, was attended by families and supporters of four of the French citizens held.

Dozens of people gathered behind a banner calling for “freedom for the hostages in Iran”, as the relatives of those held brandished photos of their loved ones.

“There are now more and more of us -- the families and friends -- who know the unbearable distress of having a loved one detained by the Iranian regime,” said Noemie Kohler, sister of Cecile Kohler, a teacher arrested in May with her partner Jacques Paris and accused of espionage.

Those detained suffer “inhuman conditions of detention, solitary confinement, endless interrogations, the extraction of false confessions and sham trials”, she said.

“Every single additional day is a day too many. We demand their immediate and unconditional release,” she added.

The detainees “are at their wits´ end, they are weakened psychologically, physically, and have lost hope”, said Blandine Briere, the sister of Benjamin Briere, arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison on charges of spying.