An Iranian national convicted in France returns to Iran after release of 2 French citizens

PARIS — An Iranian national convicted in France on charges of inciting terrorism went back to Iran on Wednesday, one week after two French nationals detained in Tehran returned to France, according to Iranian state television.

Mahdieh Esfandiari was sentenced by a Paris criminal court in February to one year in prison with an additional three-year suspended sentence, along with a permanent ban from French territory, over comments she made about the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. She appealed the decision.

She had initially been placed under house arrest, but the measure was lifted last week by French authorities shortly after it was made public that French detainees Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris had left Iran, her lawyer Nabil Boudi told The Associated Press.

Kohler and Paris spent more than three years in Tehran's Evin prison, where many political prisoners and dissidents are held, over spying charges which Paris said were unfounded. They were released from jail in November, but had been holed up in French diplomatic premises as Iranian authorities wouldn’t let them leave the country.

Speaking on Iranian national television, Esfandiari said the court's verdict was “unjust” and she “had done nothing other than stating the truth.”

Esfandiari made a link between her case and Iran's decision to allow Kohler and Paris to return home last week.

“On the very same day that they were released … they (French authorities) released me,” Esfandiari said. “They called and said that this (house arrest) restriction has been lifted.”

Last week, Iran’s state-run agency IRNA reported that Iran had reached an agreement with France for the release of both French citizens in exchange for Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari.

However, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office denied there was any such agreement about a prisoner swap. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said details of negotiations with Iran would remain “confidential.”

Tehran has been pressing since last year for the release of Esfandiari.

Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris described last week their time in Evin prison, as “hell.” “We experienced daily horror,” Kohler told reporters.

The couple were vacationing in Iran when they were arrested in May 2022.