Published: July 07, 2009 11:03 am      

11 a.m. Tuesday- Sarkozy urges release of Frenchwoman held in Iran

By ELAINE GANLEY

Associated Press Writer

PARIS (AP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday demanded that Iran free a young French teacher detained after taking photos of Iranian protests and dismissed Iranian accusations that she was spying as “high fantasy.”

Clotilde Reiss, 23, was arrested July 1 at the Tehran airport as she was about to leave Iran after five months of studying and teaching French at Isfahan University, and accused of espionage, according to French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier.

“These accusations of espionage are high fantasy,” Sarkozy said at a Paris news conference with Brazil’s president. “Kidnapping and holding French nationals under the pretext of espionage, no one can accept this.”

Sarkozy said he expects the woman to be released “in a short time” but gave no details.

Iranian authorities have cited photos Reiss took of demonstrations following the disputed June 12 presidential elections, Chevallier told reporters Tuesday. Opposition protesters said the results were plagued with fraud.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told lawmakers that Reiss is accused of “following, contemplating demonstrations .... She took a few photos and admits having sent them by Internet, along with some commentaries.”

Kouchner said French officials have spoken with the young woman three times, and expressed hope that the French ambassador would be allowed to visit her Wednesday.

French officials have not said where Reiss was being held. Chevallier would not confirm reports that she was in Iran’s Evin prison.

He dismissed the espionage accusation as “nonsense.”

“Can you imagine a young woman of 23 years old threatening the security of Iran? It is not credible,” Chevallier said. “We are trying to make the Iranian authorities understand that this young woman is anything but a spy.”

France’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador on Monday to press its demand for her release. Kouchner said France also was seeking European Union backing in the matter.

An official at the University of Lille said Reiss received a diploma in political science there in December before heading to Iran earlier this year. The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to university rules.

Sarkozy stressed he was not questioning the results of Iran’s June 12 elections but criticizing the crackdown on protesters.

“What we condemn is the violence,” Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy has been outspoken in criticism of the Iranian authorities’ response to days of opposition protests in Iran that left several dead and many people arrested.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Western governments on Monday of a “negative impact” on relations over what he called their meddling in Iran’s postelection riots.