The visit only lasted ten minutes, under surveillance.
That is to say, without the slightest freedom of speech.
But this is a first.
The French ambassador to Iran was able to "talk" briefly with Cécile Kohler, a Frenchwoman detained in Iran since May 7, her support committee announced in a statement on Sunday, concerned "by her state of physical and psychological health. ".
“After 200 days without hearing from Cécile, consular access has finally been granted to her.
The French ambassador to Iran, Nicolas Roche, was able to visit her and talk to her this Wednesday, November 23, ”wrote in a press release the Liberty support committee for Cécile, launched Tuesday in Strasbourg.
“Cécile did not have enough time to describe her daily life and take stock of her physical and psychological health,” he continues.
Cécile Kohler and her companion Jacques Paris were arrested in May while they were sightseeing in Iran.
Tehran accuses them of being spies.
“No access to a lawyer”
According to her support committee, this teacher and trade unionist is "detained in Evin prison" in northern Iran.
"She was already there during the deadly fire" that broke out there on October 15, the committee said.
"She spent several months in solitary confinement, characterized as torture and contrary to the rules and standards of the United Nations", he denounces again, specifying that Cécile Kohler "today shares a cell with several women" .
Incredible images this evening of the Evin prison (the Bastille of the Islamic Republic) on fire in Tehran.
#Iran #Mahsa_Amini pic.twitter.com/7FfUPw6sJJ
— Farid Vahid (@FaridVahiid) October 15, 2022
"To this day, she still does not have access to an independent lawyer, and she has not been able to have any direct contact with her family", recalls the committee, specifying that, thanks to the visit of the ambassador, Cécile Kohler was able for the first time “in more than six months (…) to speak to someone outside the prison”.
“I am very grateful to French diplomacy which was able to obtain, certainly not without difficulty, the possibility for our ambassador to finally meet Cécile Kohler”, indicates in a separate press release Me Thierry Moser, lawyer for the committee.
"I want to hope that this visit will allow Cécile to face, with renewed courage, the terrible ordeal that she has been unfairly facing for several months," he added.
On Tuesday, the spokesperson for the Iranian Judicial Authority, Massoud Sétayechi, declared that "the two arrested French spies", Cécile Kohler and her companion, were "still in custody" and that their "case" was "in final decision stage", without providing a specific date.