Iran: French visitors invited to leave the country “as soon as possible”

Europe 1 with AFP 6:12 a.m., October 8, 2022, modified at 6:13 a.m., October 8, 2022

French people "passing through Iran are invited to leave the country as soon as possible given the risks of arbitrary detention to which they expose themselves", alerted the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday in an update of travel advice. on his site.

"Any French visitor, including binationals, is exposed to a high risk of arrest, arbitrary detention and unfair trial", indicates the ministry, specifying that "this risk also concerns people making a simple tourist visit", and that "in the event of arrest or detention, respect for fundamental rights and personal security are not guaranteed".

"Inhuman" conditions of detention

This request follows the day after the broadcast of a video "confession" of two French people detained in Iran for five months.

The latter was widely denounced by Paris and the families of the arrested French couple warned on Friday of "inhuman conditions of detention (...) for spurious reasons", with "unimaginable psychological pressure".

"We are devastated, exhausted and terrified", write in a press release sent to AFP the families of Jacques Paris and Cécile Kohler, claiming to be "without any news" from their loved ones, fearing that they will be "kept in isolation with the only human contact being that of their jailers and interrogators".

The couple are "deprived of lawyers and are repeatedly denied consular access," the statement also said.

The two French were arrested last May at a time when Iran 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.