France/Iran

French teacher faces Iranian court

Article published on the 2009-08-08 Latest update 2009-08-08 13:57 TU

French teacher Clothilde Reiss was arrested 1 July in Tehran.
(Photo: AFP)

A French lecturer arrested in Iran following protests of June's election results appeared in court in Tehran Saturday. 24 year-old Clothilde Reiss was among about a dozen people detained in the weeks following the presidential poll, won by incumbent Mahmud Ahmedinajad.

It is the second hearing in the trial of about a hundred key reformist politicians, journalists and others, most of them accused of spying.

The Iranian Fars news agency reports that Reiss called on the court and the Iranian nation to pardon her and that she expressed regret for having been involved in the protests. The official Iranian agency, Irna, also claims that she said she had given the French embassy in Tehran a report on the unrest.

More than 10 other defendants were in the dock with the young French teacher on Saturday.

Reiss's father says he didn't know his daughter was going on trial today, and again said she is innocent.

Reiss, who was in Iran working as a university teaching assistant, was arrested on 1 July.

Irna reports that she is accused of collecting information and provoking rioters. Reiss was initially accused of spying because she had taken a photo of an opposition demonstration in the city of Isfahan, and emailed it to a French friend in Tehran.

A diplomatic source said they had not been informed of the hearing and had only found out that Reiss was in the court when they saw her on television.

French ambassador Bernard Poletti has had little to no contact with Reiss, though he was allowed to visit her once in Evin prison since her arrest.

Also standing trial with Reiss is a French embassy employee identified as Afshar by Irna and a local staff member of the British embassy.  Britain called Hossein Rassam’s trial unacceptable.

Witnesses said around 50 relatives of those on trial gathered outside the court.