French teachers Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris arrived in Paris on Wednesday after nearly four years of detention in Iran, ending a long diplomatic effort after they were jailed on espionage charges.
The couple landed at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport shortly before 9am after travelling via Azerbaijan under diplomatic escort.
They were met on the tarmac by teams from the foreign ministry’s crisis centre and were due to meet President Emmanuel Macron later in the day, the French news agency AFP reported.
Macron had announced the pair's release on Tuesday, calling it “a relief for all of us” and thanking “the Omani authorities for their mediation efforts”.
On Wednesday, he said he was “extremely happy to see them arrive on French soil”, adding that their return marked “the end of a terrible ordeal”.
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Years in captivity
Kohler, 41, and Paris, 72, were arrested on 7 May 2022 on the final day of a tourist trip to Iran. They were later held, including at Tehran’s Evin prison, and sentenced in October 2025 to 20 and 17 years respectively on espionage charges.
Released last November, the pair were barred from leaving Iran and spent the next five months under house arrest at the French embassy in Tehran.
They left Tehran at dawn on Tuesday with the French ambassador in a diplomatic convoy, travelling to the Azerbaijani capital Baku before flying on to Paris on a commercial flight.
Martin Pradel, their lawyer, told France's BFMTV that he was very happy and relieved by the announcement, and that it was very moving because of what they had been through.
“We are waiting for their return to France to hold them in our arms,” Anne-Laure Paris, the daughter of Jacques Paris, told AFP.
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Sensitive talks
The release of the couple followed what the Élysée described as a “very long-term effort”.
The French presidency said Macron had spoken with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian after war broke out in Iran on 28 February. “At each call, he clearly reiterated our expectations,” it said.
A source close to Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told AFP that the broader situation had played a role.
“What made it possible to secure their release is the current situation,” the source said, adding that “this was probably decisive, but the dynamic was already underway”.
“If something dramatic had happened to our compatriots, the reaction would have been fierce,” the source added.
Barrot referred to “sensitive discussions, by nature confidential and which must remain so”, when asked about possible concessions, insisting that “in no way did we link the fate of our hostages to France’s foreign policy choices”.
Iran has repeatedly detained Western nationals on espionage charges, often in cases Western governments describe as politically motivated.
At the height of tensions with Paris, Tehran was holding up to seven French nationals at the same time. None remain in detention now.
(with AFP)
