Iran releases video presented as spy 'confessions' of two arrested Frenchmen
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution (illustration image).
More than twenty nationals of Western countries, binationals for the most part, are detained or blocked in Iran.
KHAMENEI.IR / AFP
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3 mins
This Thursday, October 6, Iran broadcast a video presented as "confessions" of espionage by two French people arrested in May in the country, on the site of the Arabic-language channel al-Alam of the official television.
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The two Frenchmen were arrested at a time when the country was the scene of demonstrations by teachers demanding reforms for an increase in their salaries and calling for the release of colleagues arrested during previous mobilizations.
The broadcast of this video also occurs against the backdrop of other demonstrations triggered on September 16 by the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, after her arrest by the morality police.
In the video broadcast by the al-Alam site, a young woman speaking French claims to be called Cécile Kohler and to be an operational intelligence agent at the General Directorate of External Security (DGSE, French intelligence service).
' Unfounded
'
arrest
Iran has repeatedly accused outside forces of stoking the protests and said last week that nine foreign nationals - including from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands - had been arrested.
Iran announced on May 11, 2022 the arrest of two Europeans "
who entered the country with the aim of triggering chaos and destabilizing society
".
The French authorities then denounced an “
unfounded
” arrest and demanded their “
immediate release
”.
Subsequently, Tehran had accused in early July of "
undermining the security
" of the country two "
French trade unionists
" arrested in May.
A French trade union source had identified them as Cécile Kohler, an official of the Fnec FP-FO teachers' union, and her spouse Jacques Paris.
She specified that they were sightseeing in Iran during the Easter holidays at the time of their arrest.
In the video released on Thursday, the woman claims that she and her husband were in Iran "
to prepare the conditions for the revolution and the overthrow of the Iranian regime
".
They were, still according to his televised remarks, to finance strikes and demonstrations and even to use weapons “
if necessary to fight against the police
”.
According to the man shown in the video, who also speaks French, the objectives of the DGSE are to "
put pressure on the government
" of Iran.
“
An unworthy staging, contrary to international law
”
The dissemination by Iran of the "
confessions
" of espionage by two French people arrested in May in the country is "
an unworthy, revolting, unacceptable and contrary to international law staging
", reacted, Thursday, October 6, the French ministry Foreign Affairs.
Iranian television has already shown "
confessions
" by detainees in the past, including
Newsweek
journalist Maziar Bahari, who later claimed in a book published abroad that he was forced during his detention in 2009 to make them.
In June 2020, NGOs urged Iran to end the practice of televised “
forced confessions
” from prisoners broadcast by state media.
According to the London-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Justice for Iran (JFI), victims interviewed say they were "
subjected to acts of torture and ill-treatment to force them to confess to facts (often false) in front of the camera
”.
More than twenty nationals of Western countries, mostly dual nationals, are detained or stranded in Iran, which NGOs condemn as a policy of hostage-taking to obtain concessions from foreign powers.
Among them are the Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in June 2019 then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, which his relatives have always fiercely denied, as well as the Frenchman Benjamin Brière, arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for espionage, which he contests.
A US citizen Baquer Namazi, who had served a prison sentence for espionage, was able to leave Iran on Wednesday October 5, announced the Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
(
with AFP
)
►
To read also:
Iran accuses two French trade unionists of "undermining state security"
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