After weeks of protests sparked by the Death of Mahsa Amini, is the Iranian regime trying to create a diversion? The moment seems in any case chosen with care for the Arabic-speaking channel al-Alam, which broadcast this Thursday morning what it presents as “confessions” of espionage by two French arrested in May in Iran. In the video broadcast by the al-Alam website, a young woman speaking French claims to be called Cécile Kohler and to be an operational intelligence agent at the Directorate General of External Securitythat is to say to the French intelligence services.
L’Iran announced on May 11 the arrest of two Europeans “who entered the country with the aim of triggering chaos and destabilizing society”. The French authorities then denounced an “unfounded” arrest and demanded their “immediate release”. Tehran then accused in early July of “undermining the security” of the country two “French trade unionists” arrested in May.
A dozen Western citizens detained
A French trade union source had identified them as Cécile Kohler, an official of the union of Fnec FP-FO teachers, and her spouse Jacques Paris. She specified that they were sightseeing in Iran during the Easter holidays at the time of their arrest. In the recording released Thursday, the woman claims that she and her husband were in Iran “to prepare the conditions for the revolution and the overthrow of the Iranian regime”.
They were to, once more according to his declarations, finance strikes and demonstrations and even use weapons “if necessary to fight once morest the police”. According to the man shown in the video, who also speaks French, the goals of the DGSE are to “put pressure on the government” of Iran.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced an “unworthy, revolting, unacceptable and contrary to international law staging”. “This masquerade reveals the contempt for human dignity which characterizes the Iranian authorities”, added the Quai d’Orsay, demanding the “immediate release” of the two French people, whom it describes as “State hostages”.
More than a dozen nationals of Western countries, mostly dual nationals, are detained or stranded in Iran, which NGOs condemn as a policy of hostage-taking to obtain concessions from foreign powers.