According to her relatives, "she was in tears" when they answered the call.
The family of Cécile Kohler, a Frenchwoman detained in Iran, was able to speak to her for the first time since her arrest in May, during a video call on WhatsApp last Sunday, her support committee announced on Saturday.
“The interview, which lasted a few minutes, had not been announced.
It took place under surveillance.
Wearing a veil, Cécile could not speak freely,” said the Liberté pour Cécile committee in a press release.
“We felt she was very tested psychologically.
In particular, she suffers enormously from having been unable to have any contact with her family in more than seven months, ”they added in the press release.
They said they were "particularly alarmed and extremely worried" because they found her "visibly psychologically tested", but "relieved to have finally had direct contact", although "far too brief".
Cécile Kohler and her companion Jacques Paris were arrested in May while they were sightseeing in Iran.
Tehran accuses them of being spies.
An “unexpected, painful and hopeful” call
According to the press release from her support committee, this teacher and trade unionist is "detained in section 209 of Evin prison, a high security section, sadly famous for its extremely difficult detention conditions", in northern Iran. .
This “unexpected, painful and hopeful” appeal is, according to the committee, “perhaps the result of the work carried out by the French diplomatic authorities at the Quai d'Orsay”.
They also said they were working with “the committees of other French hostages in Iran to organize joint actions”.
The French ambassador to Iran was able to speak briefly with Cécile Kohler at the end of November.
His relatives had decided to speak publicly after the broadcast in early October by Tehran of a video presented as "confessions", according to which Cécile Kohler worked for the French secret service.
Paris had denounced an “unworthy staging” and evoked for the first time “State hostages”.
Cécile Kohler "is innocent and must be released and repatriated immediately", also complained to her support committee, which clarified that the French still did not have "an independent lawyer" and that no trial date had been set. fixed.
