French couple leave Iran after more than three years in jail

A French couple who spent more than three years in an Iranian prison on espionage charges are on their way home, French President Emmanuel Macron says. Cecile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, were arrested during a tourist trip in May 2022 on spying charges that France said were baseless, and held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.They were freed in November and had been under house arrest at the French embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran, ever since. "This is a relief for all of us and obviously for their families," Macron posted on X on Tuesday. He also thanked Oman "for their mediation efforts".A French foreign ministry source told the AFP news agency that the couple left Iran at dawn Tuesday in a diplomatic convoy with the French ambassador and had travelled to neighbouring Azerbaijan. France's foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, has not given details of couple's movements but said they were "free at last" and that he had spoken to them by phone. "They told me of their emotion and joy at soon being reunited with their country and their loved ones," he wrote on X.Paris's daughter, Anne-Laure Paris, told AFP: "We are waiting for their return to France so we can give them a big hug."