France pays teaching assistant’s bail

Iran says that France has paid more than 200,000 euros bail for the release of a French teaching assistant.

Clotilde Reiss was jailed at the beginning of July after being accused of aiding a Western plot against the Iranian government following its disputed presidential poll.

President Nicolas Sarkozy thanked other countries, particularly Syria, in helping to secure her freedom. She is now staying at the French embassy in Tehran pending a verdict.

Hundreds of people were arrested following the disputed June 12th poll. That saw widespread post-election violence after pro-reform protesters accused authorities of rigging the vote.

Earlier today, police also reportedly prevented dozens of opposition supporters from rallying outside reformist newspaper Etemad-e-Melli.

The daily says it was shut down after its owner, defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi, accused authorities of torturing opposition protesters to death.

Karoubi also claims some detainees suffered Abu-Ghraib like abuses in Iran’s post-election crackdown, including rape.

Copyright © 2009 euronews

tags: France, Iran, Justice