Iran releases French teacher couple after years in prison
French President Emmanuel Macron formally announced on Tuesday the release of a French teaching couple who had been detained in Iran since 2022, confirming that the pair is currently in transit to France.
- World
- DPA
- Published Date: 07:56 | 07 April 2026
A French teacher couple held by Iran since 2022 have been released and are on their way to France, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.
"Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to France after spending three and a half years in detention in Iran," Macron wrote on X.
Macron thanked the Omani authorities for mediating the release, which came after the couple were sentenced by an Iranian court in October last year to 17 and 20 years, respectively, in prison for allegedly spying for Israel.
Their case had caused serious tension between Paris and Tehran, with France accusing the Iranian government of holding them as hostages of the state.
The couple were released to the French embassy in Tehran at the beginning of November after France released an Iranian woman held in France pending trial for the glorification of terrorism. The pair were not at that point permitted to leave the country.
The aim had been to exchange the French couple for the Iranian woman, but this did not happen because the Iran war began.
Kohler, 41, and Paris, 72, were held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, surviving an Israeli airstrike during the 12-day war in June 2025.
The Iranian government has repeatedly been accused of holding Westerners hostage to secure the release of Iranians held abroad. Tehran rejects the allegations, often justifying the detentions on grounds of espionage allegations.
"Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to France after spending three and a half years in detention in Iran," Macron wrote on X.
Macron thanked the Omani authorities for mediating the release, which came after the couple were sentenced by an Iranian court in October last year to 17 and 20 years, respectively, in prison for allegedly spying for Israel.
Their case had caused serious tension between Paris and Tehran, with France accusing the Iranian government of holding them as hostages of the state.
The couple were released to the French embassy in Tehran at the beginning of November after France released an Iranian woman held in France pending trial for the glorification of terrorism. The pair were not at that point permitted to leave the country.
The aim had been to exchange the French couple for the Iranian woman, but this did not happen because the Iran war began.
Kohler, 41, and Paris, 72, were held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, surviving an Israeli airstrike during the 12-day war in June 2025.
The Iranian government has repeatedly been accused of holding Westerners hostage to secure the release of Iranians held abroad. Tehran rejects the allegations, often justifying the detentions on grounds of espionage allegations.
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