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French Detainee Leaves Iran

   VOA News 16 May 2010
   French lecturer Clotilde Reiss in Tehran (file)

Photo: AP

   French lecturer Clotilde Reiss in Tehran (file)

   A  French  official says an academic held by Iran on charges of spying
   is returning home to France.
   Iranian  attorney Mohammad Ali Mahdavi-Sabet said Sunday that Clotilde
   Reiss  boarded  a French government plane in Dubai.  She is scheduled
   to  meet  French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sunday at the Elysee Palace
   in Paris.
   The lawyer said Saturday a court ruling in Tehran had authorized Reiss
   to serve 10 years in jail, but this was commuted to a $285,000 fine.
   Iranian   authorities   arrested   Reiss   following  Iran's  disputed
   presidential election last June. Â
   The  24-year-old  spent  six weeks in an Iranian prison before a court
   released  her  on bail.  She was afterwards reported to be staying in
   the French embassy in Tehran.
   France has consistently rejected the charges against her.
   The  release  of  Reiss  comes  just  over a week after a French court
   refused to extradite an Iranian engineer to face charges in the United
   States.
   The  U.S.  accuses  Majid Kakavand of sending restricted technology to
   Iran.   French authorities arrested Kakavand in March 2009 at a Paris
   airport,  but  the  French court said Kakavand could not be extradited
   because he had not broken any French laws.
   A  French  ban  on  sending  technology to Iran that could be used for
   military  purposes  did  not  go  into  effect  until after Kakavand's
   arrest.
   In  an interview last year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tied
   the release of Clotilde Reiss to that of Kakavand and a second Iranian
   man held by French authorities.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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