THE HAGUE (Reuters) -France has dropped its case before the International Court of Justice against Iran for violating the right to consular protection of two French citizens who have been held in detention for over three years, the court said Thursday.
France has repeatedly accused Iran of holding Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris arbitrarily, keeping them in conditions akin to torture in Tehran’s Evin prison and not allowing proper consular protection. Iran denies the accusations.
The court’s announcement gave no reason why Paris dropped the case and France’s foreign ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
The case at the ICJ or World Court was widely seen as a bid to pressure Iran over the detention of its citizens. Iran has accused the pair of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.
French President Emmanuel Macron met Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly.
“I once again emphasized our clear demand: Cécile Kohler, Jacques Paris, and Lennart Guttenberg, state hostages who have been arbitrarily detained in Iran under inhumane conditions, must be immediately released. France will not abandon any of its children,” he said on X after the meeting.
Pezeshkian said on X the two had discussed trying to resolve the issue.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg, additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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