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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| French embassy staffer leaves Iran prison: govt |
| 2009-08-12 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] French embassy staffer Nazak Afshar, on trial on charges related to post-election protests in Iran, has left the Tehran prison where she was being held, the French presidency said Tuesday, as opposition leaders say 69 people were killed in protests after the disputed June election. President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke to the French-Iranian dual national after she was released from the prison where French lecturer Clothilde Reiss, also on trial, is still being held, it said. Reiss, who is allowed to live in the French embassy during the case, and Afshar were among defendants tried on charges related to huge protests across Iran after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared re-elected in June. Meanwhile the opposition said more than double the official toll of 26 protestors had been killed during the June protests and parliament has promised to investigate, pro-reform newspapers said. Many conservatives have joined an outcry led by reformist opponents of Ahmadinejad over the treatment of more than 4,000 people officials say were detained throughout Iran during demonstrations after the vote. The opposition says the poll was rigged, a charge denied by Iran's authorities, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has accused Western powers of inciting the unrest. |
| Posted by:Fred |