"The story is over," Iranian lawyer says --- French woman to be cleared of spying in Iran

Clotilde Reiss was arrested in Tehran in July when preparing to leave Iran

TEHRAN (Agencies)


The lawyer for a French teaching assistant who was arrested on spying charges after Iran's disputed June election said on Saturday she would be acquitted by Sunday.


"The case of Clotilde Reiss is finished. The court will acquit my client of charges by Sunday," Mohammad Ali Mahdavi-Sabet told Reuters.


Mahdavi-Sabet said she has been sentenced to "pay a fine of $285,000 (€230,000)," for her crimes, adding that he had paid the money on Saturday.


" The case of Clotilde Reiss is finished. The court will acquit my client of charges by Sunday "
Mohammad Ali Mahdavi-Sabet "I will go to the court to get her passport. The story is over."


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 destabilize the Iranian government after the June 12 vote in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected.


France has maintained that she is innocent and demanded her immediate release.


Her case has raised tensions between France and Iran, already at odds over Tehran's nuclear program.


She was arrested in Tehran in July when preparing to leave the Islamic state after a five-month stint working at the University of Isfahan.


She was among thousands of people detained over widespread post-election unrest.


Defeated moderate candidates say the election was rigged to secure Ahmadinejad's re-election. The authorities deny this.


A judgment in the case had been expected in January, after Reiss had made four court appearances, but the verdict was put off.




Refusal to extradite Iranian


News of her imminent departure comes a week after a Paris court refused to extradite an Iranian to the United States where he is accused of buying electronic parts and exporting them illegally.


Engineer Majid Kakavand, who had been arrested in March 2009 at the request of the United States, flew home to Iran last Friday.


The Islamic republic hailed the French court's decision as "a positive point in Franco-Iranian relations."


U.S. officials accused Kakavand of buying electronic components and measuring instruments through a Malaysian company and exporting them to the Iran via Malaysia between 2006 and 2008.


The decision to release Kakavand capped more than a year of legal wrangling in a case that had diplomatic implications as France pressed for the release of Reiss held in Tehran.

Alarabiya.net