ETUCE welcomes the return of detained French teachers Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris
The European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) welcomes the safe return to France of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French teachers who were arbitrarily detained in Iran for nearly four years and who arrived back in Paris on 8 April 2026.
Cécile Kohler, a secondary school literature teacher and union representative, and Jacques Paris, a retired mathematics teacher active in international trade union work, had been imprisoned since May 2022 on unfounded charges of espionage. During their detention, they were held in severe conditions, including long periods of solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin prison, which international organisations have identified as amounting to torture and a serious violation of international law.
Following their release from prison in November 2025, they remained under house arrest at the French embassy in Tehran until their departure from Iran earlier this week. After arriving in Paris, they met with President Emmanuel Macron and publicly testified to the inhuman and arbitrary nature of their detention, while affirming their determination to speak out about what they endured.
ETUCE recalls that Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are education workers and long-standing trade union activists. Their case symbolises the risks faced by teachers and education workers worldwide when fundamental rights, academic freedom and trade union freedoms are not respected. Their arbitrary detention demonstrates once again how educators can be targeted simply for who they are and the values they represent.
Throughout their imprisonment, trade unions, civil society organisations and education unions across Europe and beyond mobilised to demand their release. ETUCE salutes the perseverance of their families, colleagues and support committees, as well as the sustained international solidarity shown within the education trade union movement.
"The return of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris is a huge relief for the education trade union community across Europe. Their ordeal is a stark reminder that teachers and trade unionists must never be targeted for their profession, their engagement or the values they stand for. ETUCE welcomes their liberation and reaffirms its commitment to defending academic freedom, trade union rights and the fundamental dignity of education workers everywhere.”
Jelmer Evers, ETUCE Director
ETUCE reiterates its unwavering commitment to defending teachers’ rights, trade union freedoms and the protection of education workers everywhere. The organisation calls on all governments to respect international human rights standards and to ensure that no educator is ever used as a political bargaining tool.
ETUCE extends its solidarity to Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris as they begin their recovery and reaffirms its determination to continue standing up for education workers facing repression, detention or persecution across the world.
