Iran Reiterates Accusation Against Detained French Nationals
Iran's state television on Tuesday showed a 3-minute report on the recent arrest of two French citizens, saying they were spies who had tried to stir up unrest.
Iran's state television on Tuesday showed a 3-minute report on the recent arrest of two French citizens, saying they were spies who had tried to stir up unrest.
Iran's intelligence ministry had said on May 11 it had arrested two Europeans for allegedly fomenting "insecurity" in Iran, but had not revealed their nationalities.
The arrest took place as the European Union chief nuclear negotiator Enrique Mora was visiting Tehran to revive the Vienna negotiations stalled since mid-March. Earlier Iran had threatened to execute a Sweidsh Iranian dual national arrested since 2016 and condemned to death on unproven charges of espionage for Israel.
Security detainees in Iran do not receive fair and open trials, with defense attorneys chosen by the government, and often left without pertinent information relating to their clients’cases.
France has condemned their detention as baseless and demanded the immediate release of the French couple, in an incident likely to complicate ties between Iran and Europe as the nuclear talks remain dormant. France, along with Germanu and the United Kingdom are participants in the nuclear talks.
On Tuesday, state television named the two as Cecile Kohler, 37, and her partner Jacques Paris, 69, adding that "the two spies intended to foment unrest in Iran by organising trade union protests". Iran's judiciary has yet to comment on the matter.
In Paris, there was no immediate response from the French Foreign Ministry to a request for comment on Iranian television's assertions, Reuters said.
In recent months, Iranian teachers across the country have staged protests demanding better wages and working conditions, as 40-percent inflation. Dozens of them have been arrested.
"They traveled to Iran as tourists ... But they took part in anti-government protests and met members of the so-called Teachers' Association," it said, showing Kohler and Paris apparently talking in a meeting with what it said were protesting Iranian teachers. An audio recording was released that seemed to be bits and pieces from undetermined conversation.
The TV footage showed what it said was their arrival at Tehran's International Imam Khomeini Airport on April 28 with Turkish Airlines from Turkey, as well as their arrest on their way to the airport on May 7.
Christophe Lalande, federal secretary of France's FNEC FP-FO education union, told Reuters on May 12 he suspected that one of his staffers and her husband were missing on a holiday in Iran.
Two other French nationals are held in Iran on national security charges their lawyers say are politically motivated.
Apparently, Mora intended to discuss the issue of foreigners held by Iran during his visit last week, but he did not mention the topic after his return.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Iran has repeatedly dismissed the chargé, but recently released two British Iranian detainees after London paid a $520million old debt.
Western powers have long demanded that Tehran free their citizens, who they say are political prisoners. The United States has acknowledged that the issue of de-facto hostages held by Iran has been discussed on the sidelines of the nuclear negotiations.
“Iran has never tried to interfere in Lebanon’s internal affairs,” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told his weekly news conference. While the grip of Lebanon’s sect-based parties remained strong, there were small gains by independent candidates reflecting desire for change since the 2019 ‘al-Thawra’ protests, an economic crisis that has left 80 percent of citizens in poverty, and the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
Reuters news agency cited three “sources” close to Hezbollah saying its alliance – with fellow Shia party Amal, the Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), and some smaller groups – would lose its parliamentary majority.
But Lebanese government formation is always protracted given the reservation of political positions for members of particular sects. One picture caption doing the social-media rounds sarcastically highlighted a “leaked picture of the future head of the Lebanese parliament” – Amal leader Nabih Berri who has held the post since 1992 and will likely continue once various deals are done.
The speaker is a Shia under an understanding dating to 1943, with the president a Christian, and the prime minister a Sunni.
Critics of Hezbollah, including the Lebanese Forces, led by wartime Christian militia leader Samir Geagea, made gains, leaving analysts to suggest that no alliance would win the 65 seats required for a majority in the 128-seat parliament.
The Lebanese Forces, according to press spokesman Antoinette Geagea, won at least 20 seats, up from 15 in 2018, while its main Christian rival, the Hezbollah-allied Free Patriotic Movement, won 16, down from 18, its campaign manager Sayed Younis told Reuters.
Economic meltdown, political rivalries
Voter turnout across was down from the 49 percent of 2018, although there were reports of heavy voting by Lebanese expatriates. These elections were the first since the economy slid into meltdown in late 2019 following the collapse of a post-1990 economic system based on massive government borrowing from a banking sector buoyed by expatriate deposits attracted by high interest rates.
Rivalries between sect-based parties linked to regional powers have stymied efforts at structural reform while European donors have lost patience with corruption.
Since it first entered the cabinet in 2005, Hezbollah has become associated with government failings and has lost support among Shia voters. While the party has continued to provide valued social services in the face of growing economic hardship, many Lebanese questioned its role in the Syrian war, where it sent fighters to support President Bashar al-Assad.
Iranian allies also lost ground in the Iraqi elections of December 2021. But in Lebanon, as in Iraq, the formation of a new government is likely to be a protracted process while citizens deal with issues like inadequate electricity and rapidly rising prices.
It remains to be seen whether Hezbollah’s electoral setback will encourage the Sunni Arab Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, to reconsider their political and financial disengagement from Lebanon going back to around 2015.