France condemns Iran's detention of couple

PARIS (Reuters) -France reaffirmed on Wednesday its condemnation of Iran's detention of two French citizens, who have been held for three years.

The pair, Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris, are being held in a "totally arbitrary manner," the French foreign ministry said in a statement following a report from AFP that the two had been charged with spying for Israel's Mossad spy agency.

If the report is confirmed, the charge is "totally unfounded," a diplomatic source said, adding the pair was innocent.

France in May filed a case at the International Court of Justice against Iran for violating the right to consular protection, a bid to pressure Iran over the detention of Kohler and Paris, who have been held since May 2022.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained dozens of foreign and dual nationals in recent years, often on espionage-related charges. Rights groups and Western countries accuse Tehran of using foreign detainees as bargaining chips, which Iran denies.

(Reporting by Mimosa Spencer; Editing by David Gregorio)