Middle East News

Iran calls on France to stop political pressure over lecturer

Nov 11, 2009, 15:36 GMT

Tehran - Iran called on France Wednesday to stop political pressure over French lecturer Clotilde Reiss, who is under house arrest in Tehran, ISNA news agency reported.

'The charges against Reiss are documented and therefore there can be no acquittal on grounds of political pressure, and nobody is allowed to tell the relevant judge what to do,' Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

The spokesman was referring to Tuesday remarks by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner demanding formal guarantees from Iran that Reiss would stay in the French embassy in Tehran and not be transferred to jail again while awaiting her verdict.

Reiss, arrested on July 1 shortly before her planned departure from a Tehran airport, is charged with espionage after she admitted in court that she attended protests against alleged fraud in Iran's June 12 presidential election and presented the French embassy in Tehran with a report.

She was released from prison in mid-August into the custody of the French embassy in Tehran for an unknown amount of bail and obliged to remain in Iran until the end of her trial.