Iran hands two French nationals prison sentences for spying

Iranian authorities on Tuesday handed down lengthy prison sentences to two French nationals after convicting them on multiple charges including spying for Israel, the judiciary said.

The judiciary's Mizan Online website did not identify the two French nationals, but two sources close to the case told AFP that academics Cecile Kohler, 40, and Jacques Paris, 72, were the citizens sentenced on Tuesday.

The date of their arrest in May 2022, on the final day of their holiday, does not tally with the date noted by Mizan, March 2023.

Mizan said one of the defendants was sentenced "to six years in prison for spying for the French intelligence services, five years for association to commit a crime against national security, and 20 years in exile for intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime".

It was not immediately clear what "exile" entails, but in other instances, Iranian authorities have sent convicts to remote towns or villages away from major cities.

The other defendant was "sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying for the French intelligence services, five years for association to commit a crime against national security, and 17 years for assisting in intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime", Mizan added.

Under Iranian law, jail sentences run concurrently.

Mizan said the verdict could be appealed within 20 days.

The announcement came more than a month after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a deal to exchange French prisoners in Iran for an Iranian woman held in France was nearly complete.

Swap deal?

Last week, Iran released 19-year-old Franco-German national Lennart Monterlos who was accused of spying charges.

Monterlos, who has a German mother and a French father and grew up in eastern France, was arrested on 16 June in the southern city of Bandar Abbas, on the third day of the brief war between Iran and Israel.

He was headed towards the border with Afghanistan, his Iranian visa near expiration.

The French foreign ministry did not comment when asked by AFP whether the reported sentencings were Kohler and Paris's, or whether they involved two other French nationals.

Iran has previously said the couple could be freed as part of an exchange with France, which would also see the release of Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari.

Esfandiari was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting terrorism on social media, according to French authorities.

Iran has repeatedly called her detention arbitrary, and maintains that the French couple in its custody were spying for Israel.

Earlier this year, France took the case to the International Court of Justice, accusing Iran of breaching consular access obligations under the Vienna Convention.

France later withdrew the request after Araghchi's remarks on the swap deal being near completion.

Iran is believed to hold around 20 Europeans in detention.