French researcher freed by Iran

PARIS, May 16 (UPI) -- Clotilde Reiss, a French researcher held in Iran since the 2009 presidential elections, was released Sunday and returned home to Paris, officials said.

Reiss, 24, was a lecturer and Persian history, culture and language scholar, when she was detained on spying charges in Isfahan, Iran, July 1 after joining in a demonstration against the disputed presidential vote. She spent six weeks in Tehran's infamous Evin Prison before being released on $350,000 bail to the French Embassy after a televised trial, Radio France Internationale said.

"Clotilde Reiss has boarded a French government plane at Dubai airport and is currently en route towards France," a statement from the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said early Sunday.

Reiss met with Sarkozy for 20-minutes after her arrival at an airbase outside Paris and made a statement thanking France for defending her from espionage charges, RFI said..

"They treated me like a sister," she said of her fellow detainees in Iran, including two men who were executed.