France sues Iran at ICJ over citizens ‘held hostage' for 3 years
France will sue Iran to free Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris.
They have been held on spying charges for three years.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners.
Paris has filed a case against Tehran at the top UN court over two French citizens who have been held in Iran for three years, the French foreign minister said on Friday.
The announcement comes as Iranian negotiators are set to meet with their counterparts from the UK, France, and Germany in Turkey on Friday for talks on Iran's nuclear programme.
Cecile Kohler, a 40-year-old literature teacher from eastern France and her partner Jacques Paris, in his 70s, were arrested on 7 May 2022, on the last day of a tourist trip to Iran.
They have been held on spying charges, which they have vehemently denied.
In its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), France accuses Iran 'of violating its obligation to provide consular protection' to the pair, who 'have been held hostage... detained in appalling conditions that amount to torture', Jean-Noel Barrot told France 2 television.
READ | Iran must 'walk away' from all uranium enrichment, Rubio says
They are among a number of Europeans still held by Iran in what some European countries, including France, regard as a deliberate strategy of hostage-taking to extract concessions from the West at a time of tension over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.
Kohler and Paris are the last known French detainees in Iran after some recent releases and are regarded as 'state hostages' by the French government.
The two are jailed in extremely tough conditions, according to their families.
According to Reuters, Iranian officials deny these accusations.
'France will maintain pressure on the Iranian authorities until our two compatriots are freed. Their liberation is a national priority,' French foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine told a news conference.
He said French officials would file the case on Friday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is based in The Hague, for violating the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Cases at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, take years to come to a final ruling. Parties can request the court to order emergency measures to ensure that the dispute not deteriorate while the case is making its way through the United Nations' top court.
In recent years, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.
Iran denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.
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