00:00France 24's Kethevan Gourjastani has been keeping a close eye on this story for us.
00:03She joins me now on the set for more.
00:05Kethevan, first of all, what more do we know about these charges and their detention?
00:08Well, look, Cécile Collaire and Jacques Paris, they were arrested back in May 2022.
00:15So it's been more than three years.
00:17And all throughout their detention up till now, the only thing that the Iranian authorities
00:22were saying is that they were detained on charges of suspected spying, but they never
00:29give any details about who they believe they were spying for.
00:34And so, according to what has come out now, they are accused of spying for Israel, for
00:40Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.
00:42But the French foreign minister just moments ago, insisting that they had not yet been
00:48officially notified of these official supposed charges.
00:53So there is the accusation of spying.
00:55There's the conspiracy to overthrow the Iranian regime.
00:59And what is called corruption on earth.
01:02And all three of these charges carry the death penalty, which is why the families, of course,
01:08are extremely worried about this new development if it is officially confirmed by the Iranian
01:15authorities.
01:16And that is cause for a lot of concern.
01:21But there's also, at the same time, a little bit of relief for the families, because a charge
01:27d'affaires from the French embassy in Iran actually got to visit the couple in prison.
01:35And this is the first sort of proof of life that we're getting from them since the Israeli strikes
01:42on Iran, because the Israelis struck the Evin prison, where the two were believed to be held.
01:51And there was no news as to their whereabouts, whether or not they had been moved before the
01:56strikes, whether they were hurt, whether they were killed in those strikes.
01:59And so now, finally, we know that they actually managed to escape, if you will, without any
02:06harm.
02:07So that is, in a way, a lot of good news for the family, because now they know that they're
02:12alive.
02:13Someone from French authorities has been able to see them.
02:18And that is a huge development, even though French officials are saying that they are still
02:26not being granted access to independent lawyers, only the charge d'affaires from the French
02:33embassy that is able to get a little bit of information and pass it on to the families.
02:38Now, Catherine, like other countries, France has long accused Iran of what it calls hostage
02:42diplomacy.
02:43I mean, give us a bit more of the broader context here from a diplomatic standpoint.
02:46Well, look, the current tensions that are taking place between France and Iran and Iran and
02:54a lot of Western countries is obviously not making matters better, even though their detention
03:01obviously predates all of what we've been seeing happening between the Israeli strikes,
03:07the U.S. strikes on Iran.
03:08So, but the belief is that Iran for years now has been using these detainees from foreign
03:17countries as a bargaining chip.
03:20And when you think about the fact that there are about 20 European nationals that are currently
03:26being held in Iran, and when you think about what is happening right now when it comes to
03:31negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, you've seen meetings, calls between the French president,
03:39the Iranian president, and other countries, it sort of emphasizes the fact that maybe there's
03:46something more there than just simply a detention.
03:50At the same time, you have to remember that this is not a sort of isolated incident when it
03:55comes to the relationship between France and Iran.
03:58There are a few examples of these things in the past few years.
04:01Back in March, Olivier Grondeau, he is a French citizen who was detained in Iran,
04:07released after two and a half years in an Iranian prison.
04:12Last year, there was a Frenchman who had been put under house arrest.
04:16He was released.
04:17France currently is detaining an Iranian citizen, a 35-year-old woman, accused of incitement to
04:24terrorism when the Iranians are simply saying she is a Palestinian activist.
04:29And so there you might see some possible negotiation going on between the two countries.
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