Tehran embassy worker trial ‘provocation’

AFP: Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the trial in Tehran Saturday of an Iranian employee of the British embassy was the "latest Iranian provocation" since the disputed presidential election.

LONDON (AFP) — Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the trial in Tehran Saturday of an Iranian employee of the British embassy was the "latest Iranian provocation" since the disputed presidential election.

Miliband said he was "deeply concerned by the unjustified charges" laid against Hossein Rassam, who went on trial with an employee of the French embassy and protesters who had challenged the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A 24-year-old French lecturer, Clotilde Reiss, was also among the defendants.

Miliband said he had spoken to his counterparts in France and in Sweden, which currently holds the European Union presidency, and "we have reaffirmed our solidarity in the face of this latest Iranian provocation."

He said Rassam had been "going about his legitimate duties."

Sweden said in a statement released almost simultaneously that the trials of the embassy employees and Reiss were an act against the entire 27-nation EU.