Europe 1 with AFP 5:46 p.m., December 20, 2022
On the sidelines of the Iraq support summit taking place in Jordan, the head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna said she had asked her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, for the "release of the French hostages" held by Iran.
According to the French authorities, seven nationals are currently detained in Iran.
The head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna said she asked her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Tuesday, on the sidelines of a regional summit in Jordan, for the "release of French hostages" held by Iran.
During a press conference after the summit devoted to Iraq, Catherine Colonna added that she had called on her counterpart to respect "civil and political rights" in Iran and to "non-interference" by Tehran in its neighborhood.
"Respect for international law"
"I spoke to him briefly in the summit room to ask him again for the immediate release of the hostages who are being held by Iran and for full respect for international humanitarian law and international law in general," she said. .
"This means respecting its international obligations both in terms of civil and political rights (..) and non-interference in the affairs of others", underlined the French Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According to the French authorities, seven French people are now detained in Iran, including Cécile Kohler, a teacher and trade unionist, and her companion Jacques Paris.
In addition to this couple arrested in early May while sightseeing in Iran, there is Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in June 2019 and then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, as well as Benjamin Brière, arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for espionage.
No "significant result"
In a letter to President Emmanuel Macron dated Monday, the support committees of Fariba Adelkhah and Benjamin Brière called on the executive to "reconsider its negotiation strategy", judging that it "has not achieved any" significant result ".
Hostages are "nothing more than a bargaining chip for obscure transactions that have nothing to do with them", they write, fearing that the list will grow "since the capture of foreigners has become real public policy in Iran".
Catherine Colonna also clarified that she had "explicitly mentioned (to her counterpart) the delivery of drones to Russia used in the war led by Russia in Ukraine".
kyiv and its Western backers have accused Russia of using Iranian-made drones to carry out attacks in Ukraine in recent weeks.