Jacques Paris et Cécile Kohler sont une “monnaie d’échange”, selon ce journaliste iranien en exil

Courrier international

04/07/2025

Détenus en Iran depuis 2022, alors qu’ils effectuaient un voyage touristique, les français Cécile Kohler et Jacques Paris ont été accusés le 2 juillet d’espionnage pour le compte d’Israël. Maziar Bahari, journaliste iranien en exil et fondateur du média “IranWire”, dénonce une “diplomatie des otages” par l’Iran. Son interview en vidéo.

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00:00Jacques Paghi et Cécile Kohler, qui ont été en prison de l'Iran pour quelques années,

00:04ont été accusés de espionage pour l'Israël.

00:07C'est hôtelage-tacé par un gouvernement qui acte comme un groupe de terroristes.

00:15Je m'appelle Mazir Bahari, je suis journaliste et publisher de IranWire.com.

00:21Since the beginning of the 12-day war with Israel, since June 13th, 2025,

00:29the Iranian government has been surprised by the level of infiltration of Israeli agents in Iran.

00:36Revolutionary Guards commanders, at least 20 of them, have been hit by Israel in their homes.

00:44Similar thing happened to the Iranian nuclear scientists.

00:47The Iranian parliament recently has passed a bill indicating harsher punishment

00:53for people who've been charged with espionage.

00:55They've been trying to blame it on different people,

01:00including some foreign prisoners, Afghan refugees especially,

01:05and unfortunately, Jacques Paghi and Cécile Kohler,

01:08who've been in prison in Iran for a few years,

01:11they have been accused of espionage for Israel.

01:15Nous exigeons la libération immédiate, inconditionnelle de Cécile Kohler et Jacques Paris.

01:22I am certain that Jacques and Cécile,

01:26they are held in order to squeeze something out of the French government.

01:33It can be the exchange of an Iranian prisoner in France,

01:37some financial gain, it can be a contract, etc.

01:40Iran has not been very happy with President Macron for a while

01:44because when the Women's Life Freedom protests started in September 2022,

01:51President Macron met with some Iranian activists outside of Iran.

01:55And President Macron has always been very critical of the actions of the Iranian government

02:01and also an Iranian ally, Russia, and the actions of Russia and Ukraine.

02:06But at the same time, French companies have been operating in Iran.

02:10France is a trading partner with Iran.

02:12The Iranian government is not a monolith.

02:15There are different factions within the Iranian government.

02:17The Revolutionary Guard, who are holding Jacques and Cécile,

02:22they have some sort of jurisdiction within the Iranian establishment.

02:28Even though we know that President Macron talked to the head of the executive branch,

02:35President of Iran, that does not mean that Pazeshkian has any influence

02:40over the Revolutionary Guards or the judiciaries.

02:43And as far as we know, the charges against Cécile and Jacques

02:47were brought forward by the Revolutionary Guard and repeated by the judiciary.

02:51So maybe the executive branch, the presidency, had nothing to do with those charges.

02:57Unlike the Americans and the British,

03:00French government has been working with the hostage takers in the past,

03:04whether they are groups or governments.

03:07So I'm sure Cécile and Jacques will be with their families very soon.

03:11Mon père Jacques et sa compagne Cécile sont maintenus en cage, littéralement.

03:19Ce sont les mots de mon père lors de son dernier appel.

03:23We have to understand that this is not the first time that this has been done.

03:27In many other cases, they were also charged with espionage

03:31and they were given harsh sentences,

03:33but then they were released within a few years.

03:37This hostage, quote-unquote, diplomacy,

03:39it is basically boils down to exchanging human beings,

03:45in most cases, innocent human beings,

03:47for tangible gains by the terrorist organizations,

03:51or in this case, the Iranian government that acts like a terrorist organization.

03:56In essence, it's hostage-taking.

03:58These kind of accusations against innocent people like Cécile and Jacques and other people,

04:04especially I'm really worried about the Afghan refugees in Iran

04:08who've been targeted in the past few days.

04:10That is going to result in nothing.

04:12You know, they may pretend that they won the war

04:15and they may pretend that they've been victorious,

04:17but they know for a fact that they were infiltrated,

04:20that they were militarily, and in terms of intelligence, they were defeated.

04:24And this has been a big failure.

04:26Unfortunately, I can foresee that the same situation will continue

04:31and soon we'll have another attack by the Israelis

04:34if the Iran continues with the development of ballistic missiles

04:38and the nuclear program.

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