A rally for the release of Cécile Kohler, a French teacher and trade unionist detained in Iran for ten months, took place on Saturday afternoon in her hometown of Soultz (Haut-Rhin).
Support concerts are also organized throughout the weekend in this town near Mulhouse to raise awareness of the situation of Cécile and other French and Europeans detained in Iran.
"
We hope it reaches her ears in Iran, in her cell, that it can give her strength to know that there are people who are fighting for her,
" her sister told AFP. Noémie Kohler, contacted by telephone.
Cécile Kohler and her companion Jacques Paris were arrested in May 2022 while sightseeing in Iran.
Tehran accuses them of being spies.
Cécile Kohler's family has only spoken to her twice since her arrest.
“
The last news we had was the call she made to my parents on February 22.
She cannot speak freely because she is always very closely watched during these calls
,” explained Noémie Kohler.
Read alsoWho are the six French detainees in Iran?
“
We are very, very worried because we know very little about her conditions of detention and what we know is not to reassure us: after months of solitary confinement, the fact that she can only go out three times a week from her cell, that she has had only one book in almost a year, that she has so little contact with her family and that she has had only one consular visit ...
”, she listed.
Regarding the progress of his case, "
we are in complete limbo, we have no information on a possible trial
".
Officially, six French people remain detained in Iran.
In addition to Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, Bernard Phelan, a 64-year-old Franco-Irish man with fragile health, has been detained since October 1.
A 35-year-old consultant, Louis Arnaud was arrested on September 28.
Another Frenchman is detained but his identity has never been made public.
Finally, Benjamin Brière, 38, detained since May 2020 for espionage, was acquitted in mid-February of all the charges against him but remains behind bars for the time being.
The Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in June 2019 and then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, was released on February 10.