In a developing diplomatic twist between France and Iran, an Iranian citizen convicted of terrorism-linked charges in Paris has returned to her home country just seven days after two long-detained French nationals finally touched down back on French soil, Iranian state television has confirmed.
The individual in question, Mahdieh Esfandiari, received her sentence from a Paris criminal court back in February this year. The court handed down a one-year prison term, an extra three-year suspended sentence, and a permanent ban on entering French territory. The charges stemmed from public comments Esfandiari made following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel carried out by Hamas. She has repeatedly contested the ruling and launched an appeal against the conviction.
Esfandiari’s defense attorney, Nabil Boudi, confirmed to the Associated Press that his client had originally been placed under house arrest after the conviction. But French authorities lifted that restrictive measure exactly one week after the two French detainees, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, departed Iran for France.
Kohler and Paris, a French couple who were arrested while on vacation in Iran in May 2022, spent more than 36 months locked in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison — a facility widely known for holding political prisoners and government dissidents. They were accused of conducting espionage on Iran, a charge Paris has repeatedly dismissed as completely baseless. The pair were granted release from prison back in November 2024, but were barred from leaving Iran by local authorities, forcing them to take shelter in French diplomatic compound in Tehran for months until their exit was approved last week. Upon their return to France, Kohler described their time in Evin Prison as unrelenting suffering, calling their imprisonment “daily horror” and a period of “hell.”
In an interview with Iranian state television following her arrival back in Iran, Esfandiari pushed back against her French conviction, calling the court’s verdict “unjust” and claiming she “had done nothing other than stating the truth.” She also explicitly connected her release from house arrest and ability to return to Iran to the departure of Kohler and Paris, noting that “On the very same day that they were released … they (French authorities) released me. They called and said that this (house arrest) restriction has been lifted.”
Shortly after Kohler and Paris left Iran last week, Iran’s official state news agency IRNA announced that Tehran and Paris had reached a negotiated agreement: the two French citizens would be allowed to leave, in exchange for France releasing and repatriating Esfandiari.
But the Elysee Palace, the official office of French President Emmanuel Macron, has directly refuted that claim, denying any formal prisoner swap agreement was struck between the two nations. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has also declined to confirm details of behind-the-scenes talks, saying that any information about negotiations with Iran will remain “confidential.” It has previously been reported that Tehran had lobbied French officials for Esfandiari’s release since 2024.