France/Iran

France demands release of teaching assistant arrested in Tehran

Article published on the 2009-07-07 Latest update 2009-07-07 09:36 TU

Riot police in front of the British embassy in Tehran in February
(Photo: Reuters)

France is demanding the release of a French university teaching assistant who has been held on spying charges in Iran. Paris has called on its European partners to back its efforts to free Clotilde Reiss.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has condemned the arrest of the 23-year-old Reiss and said that the allegations of spying were unfounded.

Reiss was arrested at Tehran airport last Wednesday as she was about to depart for Beirut. She had participated in protests in Isfahan after the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The accusation of espionage is linked to a private email Reiss sent a friend in Tehran. It contained pictures taken on a mobile telephone.

“I think that’s what it’s about. That’s not espionage, it cannot be,” said Kouchner. “This accusation is absurd.”

France has called on the rest of the European Union to support its efforts to free Reiss. Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Iran on Tuesday that Europeans could work together after measures taken against British embassy staff in Tehran.

"France has informed its European partners of this matter and is calling for the solidarity of all Europeans," a French Foreign Minstry statement says.