AFP, Tehran

Iranian authorities yesterday handed down lengthy prison sentences to two French nationals after convicting them on multiple charges, including spying for Israel, the judiciary said.

The judiciary’s Mizan Online website did not identify the two French nationals, but two sources close to the case told AFP that academics Cecile Kohler, 40, and Jacques Paris, 72, were the citizens sentenced.

The date of their arrest in May 2022, on the final day of their holiday, does not tally with the date noted by Mizan, March 2023.

Mizan said one of the defendants was sentenced “to six years in prison for spying for the French intelligence services, five years for association to commit a crime against national security, and 20 years in exile for intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime”.

The other defendant was “sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying for the French intelligence services, five years for association to commit a crime against national security, and 17 years for assisting in intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime”, Mizan added. Under Iranian law, jail sentences run concurrently.