AFP: Senior European Union diplomats called Thursday on Iran to immediately release a French woman lecturer jailed on charges of spying linked to riots over last month's presidential election.
BRUSSELS (AFP) — Senior European Union diplomats called Thursday on Iran to immediately release a French woman lecturer jailed on charges of spying linked to riots over last month's presidential election.
"The EU troika reiterated its concern for the detained French citizen Ms. Clotilde Reiss and demanded her immediate release," said a statement by Sweden, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.
"The EU troika underlined that the European Union stands fully united behind this call," it said, after the diplomats from Sweden and Spain had visited the Iranian foreign ministry in Tehran.
Reiss was detained at Tehran airport on July 1 on her way to Beirut and was being held at the capital's notorious Evin prison.
A recent masters graduate, she had been a lecturer at the technical university in the city of Isfahan for the past five months.
Iranian officials accuse her of taking part in election protests in Isfahan and sending an e-mail to a friend in Tehran that contained information on the rallies, say French officials.
