Arrests in Iran

President Sarkozy said he had spoken by telephone with Nazak Afshar, a French-Iranian dual national, after her release.

The president, "has learned with great joy and relief of the release from prison of Mrs. Nazak Afshar, a worker at the cultural service of the embassy who was detained, as Clotilde Reiss still is," said a statement released by Sarkozy's office on Tuesday.

Reiss stands accused of spying for the French embassy and taking part in a plot by foreign countries to destabilize Iran's government. Paris maintains that the 24-year-old woman is an innocent French teacher with no ties to the government.

Reiss and Afshar were both arrested as the Iranian government cracked down on demonstrations protesting the disputed June 12 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

This weekend Iran began a mass trial of more than 100 protesters, including Reiss and a local employee of the British embassy in Tehran.

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden, which currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency, had summoned Iran's ambassador to protest against the mass trials of election demonstrators and the detention of several Europeans.

"We are ready to take further steps if necessary," Bildt told Swedish radio. "In consultation with all of the 27 EU member states, of course. But I think Iran is aware that we are prepared to take steps beyond what we have already done."

hf/AFP/dpa
Editor: Chuck Penfold