Iranian authorities on Tuesday handed down lengthy prison sentences to two French nationals after convicting them on multiple charges, including spying for Israel, the judiciary said.
The two unidentified French nationals were arrested in March 2023, according to the judiciary's Mizan Online website, which did not provide details on the circumstances around their arrest.
Mizan said one of the defendants was sentenced "to six years in prison for spying for the French intelligence services, five years for association to commit a crime against national security, and 20 years in exile for intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime."
The other was "sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying for the French intelligence services, five years for association to commit a crime against national security, and 17 years for assisting in intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime," it added.
Under Iranian law, jail sentences run concurrently.
Mizan said the verdict could be appealed within 20 days.
The announcement came more than a month after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a deal to exchange French prisoners in Iran for an Iranian woman held in France was nearly complete.
Swap Deal?
Last week, Iran released 19-year-old Franco-German national Lennart Monterlos who was accused of spying charges.
Monterlos, who has a German mother and a French father and grew up in eastern France, was arrested on June 16 in the southern city of Bandar Abbas, on the third day of the brief war between Iran and Israel.
He was headed towards the border with Afghanistan, his Iranian visa near expiration.
Two other French nationals, academics Cecile Kohler, 40, and Jacques Paris, 72, are being held on charges of spying for Israel and could face the death penalty.
They were detained on May 7, 2022 on the final day of a holiday in Iran.
The French foreign ministry did not comment when asked by AFP whether the reported sentencings were Kohler and Paris's, or whether they involved two other French nationals.
Iran has previously said the couple could be freed as part of an exchange with France, which would also see the release of Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari.
Esfandiari was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting terrorism on social media, according to French authorities.
Iran has repeatedly called her detention arbitrary, and maintains that the French couple were spying for Israel.
Earlier this year, France took the case to the International Court of Justice, accusing Iran of breaching consular access obligations under the Vienna Convention.
France later withdrew the request after Araghchi's remarks on the swap deal being near completion.
Iran is believed to hold around 20 Europeans in detention.
AFP
Comments