Espionage a l'anglaise

A young French teacher released on Monday by Iran after being held on espionage charges was working with a French intelligence agency, a former spy claimed yesterday.

Clotilde Reiss, 24, who was held for 10 months in Iran, had worked "very well" for France, according to Pierre Siramy, a former senior member of France's external intelligence service, the DGSE.

The Foreign Ministry has always said that she was an innocent academic with no links to spying, and the claims sparked instant consternation and denials from the French intelligence community.

Siramy said she was not a spy "in the classic sense of the word", but worked "a l'anglaise". In other words, she "bravely" handed over information on an "amicable" basis for the good of the country.

Meanwhile, the French prosecutor's office yesterday said Ali Vakili Rad, who was convicted of the 1991 assassination of the last Prime Minister under the ousted Shah of Iran, was to be freed from prison and sent home to Tehran.

The decision by the Paris Court of Appeals had been considered likely since the French Interior Ministry issued an expulsion order Monday.

News of his release came a day after both Iran and France denied Reiss was freed as part of a deal.