Clotilde Reiss (born 31 July 1985) is a French student accused of being an agent of a French intelligence agency. [1] [2] Her arrest in Iran on espionage charges on 1 July 2009 generated considerable diplomatic controversy. [3] She holds a master's degree from Sciences-Po Lille. At the time of her arrest, she was teaching in Isfahan and writing a master's thesis about teaching history and geography in Iranian schools.
Reiss was arrested at Tehran Airport on 1 July 2009 on her way home to France via Beirut. Iranian authorities alleged that Reiss took photographs of the 2009 Iranian election protests in Isfahan and emailed them to a friend. This act constituted potential espionage against the Islamic Republic in the eyes of Iranian prosecutors. News of her arrest did not become public for several days, during which time the French government tried unsuccessfully to obtain her release.
When it became clear that Iran intended to put Reiss on trial, officials at the highest level of the French government publicly mobilized on her behalf; French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called the charges against her "absurd" and President Nicolas Sarkozy dismissed them as "pure fantasy". [4] She was visited by the ambassador of France in Tehran, Bernard Poletti, on 9 July 2009. [5]
Her trial began in Tehran on 8 August 2009, [6] at the same time as Nazak Afshar, a French-Iranian employee of the French Embassy and Hossein Rassam, an Iranian employee of the British embassy. The Swedish Presidency of the European Union expressed concern over the trial. It demanded that the prisoners be released promptly, saying, "The Presidency reiterates that actions against one EU country—citizen or embassy staff—is considered an action against all of EU, and will be treated accordingly." [7] She was released on bail and resided at the French embassy, unable to leave the country pending the outcome of her trial.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran issued a statement signaling his government's willingness to release Reiss but clarifying that her release depended on the "approach and behavior adopted by French officials.[ citation needed ] He declined to elaborate further as to what he expected from the French government, saying only that "they know what to do." France has suggested that Iran is attempting to blackmail Paris into releasing an Iranian agent jailed in France for the 1991 murder of an exiled former prime minister in exchange for Reiss's freedom, a swap they have vigorously opposed. [8]
Clotilde Reiss was freed on Sunday 16 May 2010 [9] [10] [11] after active diplomatic talks between Brazilian president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. [12] [13] [14] Another source says it was the efforts of Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu who secured the release of Clotilde Reiss [15] She arrived in Paris on Sunday, the 16 May 2010, at around one o'clock and was received at the Élysée by the president Nicolas Sarkozy. She thanked her supporters and the president in a statement, "who proclaimed my innocence as soon as I was arrested." [16]
Two days after her liberation, Ali Vakili Rad, one of Shapour Bakhtiar assassins, was released from jail in France. Both the French and Iranian governments deny the two affairs are linked. [17]
Several days before her liberation, on 5 May 2010, a French court refused the extradition of Majid Kakavand, accused by the US of illegally procuring US and European high-tech components for Iran, [18] to the US and set him free. The French government denies that the two affairs are linked [19] confirms that at one point the Iranian government proposed a trade regarding Kakavand and Reiss, which the French government claims to have refused.
France denied that she was a spy in a statement published after her release. Pierre Siramy, a former deputy director of the French Directorate-General for External Security, claimed that she had worked as a contact for DGSE representative in Tehran and voluntarily provided information on Iran to France on the Iranian political climate, arms and nuclear proliferation. The government of France rejected that. [20] [21] [22] [23]
The Iranian Green Movement or Green Wave of Iran, also referred to as the Persian Awakening or Persian Spring by the western media, refers to a political movement that arose after the June 12, 2009 Iranian presidential election and lasted until early 2010, in which protesters demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office. Green was initially used as the symbol of Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign, but after the election it became the symbol of unity and hope for those asking for annulment of what they regarded as a fraudulent election. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are recognized as political leaders of the Green Movement. Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri was also mentioned as spiritual leader of the movement.
Evin Prison is a prison located in the Evin neighborhood of Tehran, Iran. The prison has been the primary site for the housing of Iran's political prisoners since 1972, before and after the Iranian Revolution, in a purpose-built wing nicknamed "Evin University" due to the number of students and intellectuals housed there. Evin Prison has been accused of committing "serious human rights abuses" against its political dissidents and critics of the government.
Mohsen Rezaee is an Iranian conservative politician affiliated with the Resistance Front of Islamic Iran and senior military officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, secretary of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination, as well as the secretary of the Iranian government's Economic Committee. He was secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council from 1997 to 2021 and Vice President of Iran for Economic Affairs between 2021 and 2023.
Controversies of the former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad included criticism after his election victory on June 29, 2005. These include charges that he participated in the 1979-1981 Iran Hostage Crisis, assassinations of Kurdish politicians in Austria, torture, interrogation and executions of political prisoners in the Evin prison in Tehran. Ahmadinejad and his political supporters have denied these allegations.
French–Iranian relations are the international relations between France and Iran. Iran has generally enjoyed a friendly relationship with France since the Middle Ages. The travels of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier are particularly well known to Safavid Persia. France has an embassy in Tehran and Iran has an embassy in Paris.
The Defenders of Human Rights Center is an Iranian human rights organization.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an Iranian principlist and nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. He was known for his hardline views and nuclearisation of Iran. He was also the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country, and served as mayor of Tehran from 2003 to 2005, reversing many of his predecessor's reforms.
Kian Tajbakhsh is an Iranian-American scholar, social scientist, and urban planner. He has taught at both American and Iranian universities. Tajbakhsh is an international expert in the areas of local government reform, urban planning, civil society capacity building, and international public policy research collaboration. He has also directed international projects in the areas of public health and social policy.
Saeed Mortazavi is an Iranian conservative politician, former judge and former prosecutor. He was the prosecutor of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, and Prosecutor General of Tehran, a position he held from 2003 to 2009. He has been called as "butcher of the press" and a "torturer of Tehran" by some observers. Mortazavi has been accused of the torture and death in custody of Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi by the Canadian government and was named by 2010 Iranian parliamentary report as the man responsible for the abuse of dozens and death of three political prisoners at Kahrizak detention center in 2009. He was put on trial in February 2013 after a parliamentary committee blamed him for the torture and deaths of at least three detainees who participated in the protests against President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's reelection. On 15 November 2014, he was banned from all political and legal positions for life.
Esha Momeni is an Iranian-American scholar and women's rights activist. She was a member of One Million Signatures campaign.
After incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared victory in the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests broke out in major cities across Iran in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The protests continued until 2010, and were titled the Iranian Green Movement by their proponents, reflecting Mousavi's campaign theme, and Persian Awakening, Persian Spring or Green Revolution.
Following the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests against alleged electoral fraud and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in Tehran and other major cities in Iran and around the world starting after the disputed presidential election on 2009 June 12 and continued even after the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as President of Iran on 5 August 2009. This is a timeline of the events which occurred during those protests.
Reactions to the 2009 Iranian presidential election varied across the world. Most Western countries expressed concern, while most countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa that expressed any opinion congratulated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his victory. The UN and EU also expressed concern about the aftermath.
2009 Iran poll protests trial refers to a series of trials conducted after 2009 Iranian presidential election. Over 140 defendants, including prominent politicians, academics and writers, were put on trial for participating in the 2009 Iranian election protests. The defendants were accused of orchestrating "colour revolution" in Iran, and "exposing cases of violations of human rights." The trials were widely condemned by world leaders both in Iran and worldwide as a "show trial" with coerced confessions.
Nazak Afshar is a French-Iranian woman currently imprisoned in Iran. Iranian authorities arrested Afshar in March 2016 upon her arrival in the country to visit her critically ill mother. Afshar, who formerly worked at the French embassy in Tehran, "had previously been arrested in 2009 on charges of spying and of acting against Iran's national security." Due to the intervention of the French government at that time, she was freed and left the country that year.
On July 31, 2009, three Americans, Joshua Fattal, Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer were taken into custody by Iranian border guards for crossing into Iran while hiking near the Iranian border in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The foreign policy of the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad administration was the policy initiatives towards other states by the former President of Iran, as different from past and also future of the Iranian foreign policy. Ahmadinejad's tenure as president came at a time of greater conflict, rhetorical or physical, than his predecessors. In following this there were various measures, external or internal, that led to his policy changes. This was primarily a division between relations with states of the Western world and the rest of the world.
Brazil–Iran relations are the bilateral relations between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Relations are characterized by economic and diplomatic cooperation and are quite friendly. Iran has a productive trade balance with Brazil. The two governments signed a document to bolster cooperation during the G-15 Summit in Tehran in 2010. However, since the election of former Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, relations between the two countries recently have deteriorated greatly, following Rousseff shifting Brazil away from Iran due to Iran's violation of human and civil rights. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's media adviser, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, was quoted as stating that Rousseff had "destroyed years of good relations" between them. He denied making such a statement.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is an Iranian woman convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and adultery. She gained international notoriety for originally being sentenced to death by stoning for her crimes. Her sentence was commuted and she was released in 2014 after serving nine years on death row.
The 2011–2012 protests in Iran were a series of demonstrations in Iran which began on 14 February 2011, called "The Day of Rage". The protests followed the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests and were influenced by other concurrent protests in the region.
