Overview
- Eighteen-year-old French-German cyclist Lennart Monterlos has been missing in Iran since June 16 with no confirmation from Iranian authorities on his whereabouts.
- The French government has maintained direct contact with Monterlos’s family and warned nationals against traveling to Iran based on concerns of deliberate hostage-taking.
- France’s Foreign Ministry has formally demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris after Tehran surfaced fresh espionage charges against them.
- Kohler and Paris have been detained in Evin Prison since May 2022 and now face potential death sentences for alleged spying for Israel’s Mossad and related conspiracy offences.
- Human rights groups and Western governments accuse Iran of using foreign detainees as leverage, with around 20 European nationals currently held on espionage-related charges.