French demand release of student

PARIS, July 8 (UPI) -- France is working for the release of a university student arrested in Iran on charges of spying, a French government spokesman said.

Clotilde Reiss, 23, of Lille took pictures at one of the many street protests in the aftermath of the re-election of Iranian President Mohamoud Ahmadinejad conducted by citizens who believe his landslide victory June 12 was not legitimate.

She was arrested July 1 at the Tehran airport as she was leaving the country for home, said Eric Chevallier of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. Reiss taught French for several months at Isfahan University in Isfahan, about 210 miles south of Tehran.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner have asked for her release and the government has publicly demanded her freedom.