Overview

• Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris have been held in isolation at Evin Prison since May 2022 and were formally charged this week with spying for Israel’s Mossad, conspiracy to overthrow the regime and ‘corruption on Earth’, each offense carrying the death penalty.
• France’s chargé d’affaires visited the couple on July 1 in Tehran, underscoring Paris’s demand for their immediate release and warning that unresolved detentions will trigger renewed sanctions.
• On June 24, an Israeli airstrike hit Evin Prison, destroying multiple wards and killing at least 71 people according to Iranian state media, prompting authorities to transfer and further isolate political inmates.
• Human rights monitors report that over 700 individuals have been arrested for alleged espionage since the ceasefire and that at least six people have been executed under the expanded charges.
• Tehran’s post-strike crackdown also saw the deportation of more than 114,000 Afghan women accused of ties to Israel and heightened repression of journalists, activists and minority groups across Iran.