Freedom Committee for Cecile Couleur: 600 Days Since Her Arrest in Iran

"Freedom Committee for Cecile" announced on Thursday, December 28, that 600 days have passed since the arrest of Cecile Couleur, a French trade union activist, in Iran, and called for this "nightmare to stop." The campaign pointed out that she is once again being held away from her family on the eve of the New Year, labeling her imprisonment as unjust. The committee emphasized that Cecile Couleur has been deprived of an independent lawyer since her arrest. It was noted in the statement that she spent several months in solitary confinement, which is recognized as torture and contrary to the laws and norms of the United Nations. The committee stressed the innocence of this trade union activist and demanded her immediate release so she can return to her country. Cecile Couleur and her husband, Jacques Pari, also a trade union activist, were arrested after meeting with several labor and teacher activists in Tehran. Following that, the Islamic Republic's television aired footage of these activists meeting in a restaurant, and the Arabic-language channel "Al-Alam," affiliated with the Islamic Republic's radio and television, announced on October 6 of the previous year that they had traveled to Iran to prepare for a "revolution and overthrow the Islamic Republic" by broadcasting their "forced confessions." These two French trade union activists are still imprisoned along with several labor and teacher activists, such as Reza Shahabi, Reyhaneh Ansari Nejad, Davood Razavi, Keyvan Mohtadi, Hassan Saidi, and Rasoul Badaqi. The arrests of these two and other labor and teacher activists have drawn widespread criticism from labor and teacher unions worldwide. They have pointed out the International Labor Organization conventions signed by Iran, emphasizing that meetings of trade union activists between countries are legal. In this context, Catherine Colonna, the French Foreign Minister, on November 16, demanded the immediate release of four French citizens imprisoned in Iran during a meeting with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Iranian Foreign Minister, stating that they are in very concerning conditions. Although some dual nationals and foreign citizens arrested by the Islamic Republic have been released from Iranian prisons and returned to their countries in recent months, several, including four French citizens, remain in Iranian prisons. Cecile Couleur, Jacques Pari, and Louis Arnaud are three of the four French citizens detained in Iran. There is little information available about the identity of the fourth person. A dialogue with the sisters of Cecile Couleur and Benjamin Brier, two French citizens imprisoned in Iran, support from members of the "Grant Est" council for the imprisoned French teacher in Iran, a gathering in Paris demanding the release of French citizens imprisoned in Iran, Reyhaneh Ansari Nejad was transferred to Evin Prison to serve her four-year prison sentence, the five-year prison sentence of Davood Razavi was upheld in the appeals court, European labor unions demanded the release of three imprisoned labor and civil activists, a French citizen imprisoned in Vakilabad, Mashhad, went on hunger strike again, and Rasoul Badaqi from Evin stated that the 120-day interrogation had turned "existence into a coffin" for them.