Iran to hold court session in French woman’s case

Reuters: An Iranian court will hold its last session Saturday in the trial of a French teaching assistant arrested on spying charges after a disputed election in June, her lawyer was quoted as saying Monday. TEHRAN (Reuters) – An Iranian court will hold its last session Saturday in the trial of a French teaching assistant arrested on spying charges after a disputed election in June, her lawyer was quoted as saying Monday.

"I hope (Clotilde Reiss) will be exonerated of the charges," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted lawyer Mohammad Ali Mahdavi-Sabet as saying.

Reiss, who has been out of jail on bail and staying at the French embassy, was accused of taking part in a Western plot to destabilise the Iranian government after the June 12 vote in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected.

Her case has raised tensions between France and Iran, already at odds over Tehran's nuclear program. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says Reiss, 24, is innocent.

After her trial resumed last month, the French Foreign Ministry said the court indicated she would be summoned again.

Reiss was arrested in Tehran in July, during the turmoil that followed the election, as she prepared to leave Iran after a five-month stint working at the University of Isfahan.

"Saturday will be the last session in the trial of my client and I will be representing her," Mahdavi-Sabet said.

(Reporting by Hossein Jaseb; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Matthew Jones)