A French couple held as hostages in Iran since May 2022 on Wednesday marked three years of imprisonment in the Islamic republic. Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris face no immediate prospect of release at a time of increased tensions over Iran's nuclear programme.

With the lights kept on 24 hours a day and allowed outside for just 30 minutes a few times a week, a French couple held inIransince May 2022 on Wednesday marked three years of incarceration in the Islamic republic, with no immediate prospect of an end to their ordeal.

Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, held on spying charges they vehemently deny, are jailed in extremely tough conditions and feeling increasingly hopeless, according to their families.

They are among a number of Europeans still held by Iran in what some European countries, includingFrance, regard as a deliberate strategy of hostage-taking toextract concessions from the Westat a time of tension over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.

Kohler, a 40-year-old literature teacher from eastern France and her partner Paris, in his 70s, were arrested on May 7, 2022, on the last day of a tourist trip to Iran. They are held in section 209, seen as reserved forpolitical prisoners, at Tehran's Evin Prison.

They are the last known French detainees in Iranafter some recent releasesand are regarded as "statehostages" by the French government.

"It's very, very hard. We're tired. We never imagined it could last this long," Cecile Kohler's sister Noemie told AFP ahead of the anniversary, which is expected to see dozens of rallies across France on Wednesday to draw attention to their plight.

"Cecile and Jacques are increasingly desperate and are less and less optimistic," said Noemie, who leads the campaign for her sister's release.

Read moreFrance denounces 'state hostage-taking' by Iran as couple mark two years in jail

French PresidentEmmanuel Macronsaid Wednesday that Paris was working "tirelessly" to free the couple.

"I assure their families that our support is unwavering," Macron wrote on X social media.

'Abominable conditions'

The pair were forced to make "confessions" broadcast on Iranian statetelevisiona few months after their arrest and have received only four consular visits in three years.

The two French citizens are subjected, according to the French foreign ministry, to conditions "equivalent totortureunder international law".

"Unfortunately, there aren't really any signs of hope," said Noemie Kohler. "Our only lever is mobilisation, making as much noise as possible in the hope that it will be heard in Iran," she said.

Their lights are kept on 24 hours a day and they are permitted just 30 minutes outdoors two or three times a week. Rare and short calls to their loved ones are held under the highest surveillance, the last one on April 14.

They are also subjected to intense psychological pressure.

"For several months they have been told that a verdict is imminent, that it will be extremely severe, they are given deadlines each time and nothing ever happens," said Noemie Kohler.

Relations between France and Iran have become even more strained in recent weeks, with Paris threatening to impose newsanctionsagainst Tehran andgrowing international alarmabout the Iranian nuclear programme.

At the end of February an Iranian woman, Mahdieh Esfandiari, was arrested in France on charges of promoting terrorism on social media, while a Franco-Iranian influencer is due to go on trial on the same charge.

The release of Kohler and Paris remains "an absolute priority" for France, according to the foreign ministry.

The couple are kept "in inhumane conditions that amount to torture", said Foreign Minister Jean-Nol Barrot in a video message released on X for the anniversary.

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Barrot said they were "hostages" and "victims of the Iranian regime" and that France was "fighting tirelessly for their release". But he also called on other French nationals to stay away from Iran.

France has said it will lodge a complaint against Iran at the Hague-basedInternational Court of Justiceover the fate of the two, a move welcomed by their families but unlikely to hasten the case in the short term.

Among other Europeans held in Iran is Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was arrested during a visit to Iran in April 2016 and sentenced to death in 2017 on charges of spying which his family says are false.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Originally published on France24