Iran: French couple arrested while on holiday
A French couple has been detained in Iran while on holiday, reports said on Thursday, one day after Iran’s intelligence ministry announced that it had arrested two Europeans for allegedly stirring up "insecurity" in the country.
The two European nationals arrested in Iran have been identified by Iran International as Cécile Kohler, the head of FNEC FP-FO, which is the largest federation of teachers' unions in France, and her husband.
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According to the London-based news site, Kohler and her husband, who is also a member of the FNEC FP-FO, traveled to Iran as tourists and not a on behalf of the organisation.
They arrived in Tehran's Khomeini Airport on 29 April and stayed in Tehran for two days, and then went on to Kashan and Isfahan. The couple were returning to Paris on 8 May when they were arrested, Iran International reported.
France has condemned the "recent arrest in Iran of two French citizens" and demanded their immediate release.
On Thursday, the French Foreign Ministry said the French ambassador in Tehran was "looking to ensure those two French citizens arrested in Iran can get consular access", Reuters reported, adding that an Iranian representative in Paris had been summoned to the French foreign minister over the incident.
Teachers' Protests Crackdown
On Thursday, Christophe Lalande, FNEC FP-FO federal secretary, said he had no news from his employee and that while there was no "absolute certainty," there was a "strong presumption" that one of the arrested European nationals was Kohler.
The couple had been on holiday in Iran, he said, adding that she had been due back in France earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Iranian intelligence ministry accused the European couple of "organising chaos and social disorder aimed at destabilising (Iran)" in conjunction with foreign intelligence services, state media reported.
The ministry did not reveal the nationalities of the couple or details of their arrests.
The French couple’s trip to Iran coincides with Tehran’s crackdown on teachers’ protests for higher salaries, which has led to the arrest of at least 38 teachers for organising demonstrations before and since international Labour Day on 1 May.
Since February this year, thousands of teachers across Iran have taken to the streets in more than 100 cities to protest against a delay in salary and pension reforms. Teachers and other public sector employees have taken part in a series of rallies over the impact of soaring inflation on salaries.
The French couple “fits the bill for the Islamic Republic’s scenarios as the pretext to arrest them” considering the activities of the FNEC FP-FO, Iran International reported.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said in its statement on Wednesday that the two met with members of the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, which has been the organiser of several rounds of nationwide protests since last year, Iran International added.
The arrests also coincided with a visit to Tehran by the European Union's Iran nuclear talks coordinator Enrique Mora, who held talks with his Iranian counterpart Ali Bagheri Kani, according to Iranian media.
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