FRANCE: Father welcomes Iran's conditional release of French teacher Clotilde Reiss

Record ID: 861063

  • Title: FRANCE: Father welcomes Iran's conditional release of French teacher Clotilde Reiss
  • Date: 17th August 2009
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FILE) (PARIS) SEINE RIVER AT DUSK
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • City:
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA606I3OA6RYHF1CIQLF7RWTEHV
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Iran releases on bail a French teaching assistant charged with spying.
    Iran has freed on bail a French teaching assistant charged with spying, President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in a statement on Sunday (August 16).
    The statement said Clotilde Reiss, 24, was well and would stay in the French embassy in Tehran pending a verdict.
    Her father welcomed the news.
    ''I am very happy, we are all quite euphoric because it's the end of... well, it's a very important fist step, it's the end of a month and a half. We didn't really know where to stand. It is a very important moment," Reim Reiss told French television in Paris.
    "The next step will be the return back to France of course, we shall see in the upcoming weeks,'' he added.
    Reiss has been charged in a mass trial with aiding a Western plot against the government after Iran's disputed presidential election in June and has been held in prison since early July.
    A French embassy employee, Nazak Afshar, who faces the same charges, was conditionally released earlier this week by Iran and will also stay at the embassy ahead of the verdict.
    Sarkozy thanked other countries, including Syria, for supporting France in the case, which has further strained already tense relations with Iran.
    Earlier on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told state television that France had agreed to post bail for Reiss, saying the authorities had not sought an "enormous sum".
    Sarkozy's office said the president had spoken to Reiss immediately after her release and praised her courage.
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