The lives of a French couple held by Iran for over three years who were this week handed lengthy jail sentences for espionage are at risk, their families warned Thursday, as France condemned their conviction on “baseless” charges.

Cecile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, were arrested in May 2022 and have been detained ever since.

They are among a number of Europeans still held by Iran in what several European governments, including France, describe as a deliberate strategy of hostage-taking by Tehran to extract concessions from the West.

“The French state is responsible, every day that goes by, for the survival of Cecile and Jacques,” Noemie Kohler, Cecile’s sister, told reporters.

The detainees’ current location is unknown after they were moved from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison in the wake of the Israeli strike on the facility in the June war.

She said she had spoken to the pair on Tuesday “for eight minutes via video call” under heavy surveillance, with the brief communication still offering no clues over where they were being held.

“It was a distress call,” Kohler........

© The Times of Israel