(Paris, France) Having spent 10 months on house arrest in Iran for allegedly participating in political demonstrations, 24-year-old Clotilde Reiss has been freed.On Sunday morning, French teacher Clotilde Reiss boarded a plane bound for Paris, ending a period of detention in Iran that dates back to last summer.President Nicolas Sarkozy has planned a reception for Reiss.
Ten months ago, on July 1, Reiss was arrested in Tehran during demonstrations against Iran's newly elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
She was charged a month later for allegedly undermining national security and sentenced to 10 years in jail. She was released on bail to the French embassy in Tehran, where she has been staying under house arrest.
The prison sentence was commuted to a fine of 230,000 euros ($285,000). Mohammad Ali Mahdavi Sabet, Reiss's lawyer, paid the fine on Saturday, at which point Reiss was allowed to leave the country. She flew to Dubai, where she boarded a French government plane on Sunday, landing at Villacoublay air base outside Paris in the early afternoon.
Iran Jails French Woman for Espionage
[Previous 7/9/09 post]
(Tehran, Iran) A French woman, Clotilde Reiss, 23, was arrested last week by Iranian police for alleged espionage. Reiss has been jailed in the notorious Evin prison.
Reiss was a teaching assistant at the University of Isfahan for several months and was detained at the airport as she was preparing to leave the country.
Iranian authorities claim that Reiss took part in the recent election protests and sent an email to a friend in Tehran that contained protest rally information. Sources say Reiss isn't political and she only took pictures of the demonstrations while not participating. Her emails have been portrayed as completely innocent.
The French Foreign Ministry has said the charge of espionage is "absolutely baseless" and demanded that Reiss be released. President Sarkozy also demanded her immediate release in a strongly-worded statement.
No comments:
Post a Comment