Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison and permanently banned from French territory for advocating terrorism. The 39-year-old woman is presented as a possible bargaining chip for the return to France of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, the latter having been assigned to the French embassy in Iran since November.

Published on: 02/26/2026 - 10:17 Modified on: 02/26/2026 - 17:24

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The Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari was sentenced, Thursday, February 26, to one year in prison with a permanent ban from French territory for advocating terrorism. A sentence against which she says she wants to appeal, according to her lawyer.

Freely leaving the court, the young woman is presented as a possible bargaining chip with Tehran against Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, assigned to the French embassy in Iran, the Iranian authorities having expressed the wish to exchange, once the legal proceedings are closed in France, their national against the two French people.

Four years in prison, three of which were suspended, were requested at the hearing on January 16, accompanied by a definitive ban from French territory. Important element: the prosecutor considered that it was not necessary to reincarcerate her, the accused having already served eight months in pre-trial detention.

The outcome of this trial was eagerly awaited by those close to Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, in a context of high tension in Iran, shaken by recent bloodily repressed protests and threatened with American military intervention.

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A “so-called exchange”

The two French nationals were incarcerated in Iran in May 2022 before being sentenced to heavy sentences, notably for espionage, then released at the beginning of November 2025 with a ban on leaving Iranian territory.

Aged 39, Mahdieh Esfandiari, born in Iran and arrived in France in 2018, was on trial in Paris for advocating terrorism, direct online provocation to an act of terrorism, public insult online due to origin, ethnicity, nation, race or religion and criminal association. Four men were also tried in this case.

“We have been talking to us since the start about this so-called exchange which must take place between our compatriots and Ms. Esfandiari (...) If the court handed down such a severe sentence on the basis of diplomatic considerations, the court made a mistake,” said Mr. Nabil Boudi at the end of the hearing.

“We will appeal (...) hoping to have a decision which will be rendered on the basis of elements of law and facts,” he added.

Asked whether his client intended to stay in France or leave the territory during the appeal procedure, the lawyer replied: "we'll see, I don't have the answer."

“We take good note of this court decision and the appeal but I have no comments to make on the consequences of the judgment,” reacted the spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pascal Confavreux during a press briefing.

French justice accuses Mahdieh Esfandiari of having contributed to the accounts of the Ax de la Résistance organization, in 2023 and 2024, on social networks and the Equality and Reconciliation site of the multi-convicted far-right French essayist Alain Soral.

At the helm, this admirer of the Revolutionary Guards, who translated into French works published by a publishing house attached to the Iranian regime, admitted to being at the origin of the Ax de la Résistance chain, but denied being the author of the publications.

She condoned the massacres of October 7, 2023 committed by Hamas in Israel. “There were children killed, women killed, hostage-taking on the Palestinian side and on October 7, it was a logical response,” said this woman. Before adding: “This is not an act of terrorism, it is an act of resistance.”

“Everything is ready”

Tehran, for its part, believes that its national was unjustly detained and publicly requested her exchange for Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris.

“This exchange between us and France was negotiated. There was an agreement and in fact, we are waiting for the entire legal and judicial procedure to take place in both countries,” declared the head of Iranian diplomacy Abbas Araghchi to France 24 at the end of November.

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"The verdict has been pronounced, but as I told you, on the basis of Iranian law (...) the prisoners, on the basis of national interests, can be exchanged," explained Abbas Araghchi. "Everything is ready. We are waiting for the legal process to end in France."

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs took note of these declarations but emphasized that justice is independent. Concerning Cécile Kohler, 41 years old, and Jacques Paris, 72 years old, the procedure is closed: they have already served three and a half years in prison and were sentenced last October to 20 and 17 years respectively in prison for espionage for the benefit of Israel in particular.

Both were able to leave prison but remain under house arrest at the French embassy in Tehran. "They are fine. They are safe," Quai d'Orsay spokesperson Pascal Confavreux told AFP on Wednesday. The terms of such an exchange remain unknown, while great uncertainty continues to weigh on the situation in Iran.

The United States, which has increased threats of attack in the event of failure of diplomacy on the Iranian nuclear program, has deployed a massive military force in the Gulf region. Talks are due to resume on Thursday in Geneva.

With AFP

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