French envoy talks to detained academic in Iran: source

France's ambassador to Iran spoke by telephone with a French woman academic who is being detained in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, a diplomatic source told AFP.

France's ambassador to Iran spoke by telephone on Wednesday with a French woman academic who is being detained in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, a diplomatic source told AFP.

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"It was a short conversation," the source said of the discussion between ambassador Bernard Poletti and Clotilde Reiss who French officials say was arrested last Wednesday at Tehran airport on her way home to France via Beirut.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said earlier that Pelotti was trying to meet Reiss in Evin and that he had discussed her case with his Iranian counterpart Manounchehr Mottaki on Tuesday.

Reiss, a lecturer at Isfahan university in central Iran, has been accused of taking part in opposition protests after last month's disputed presidential vote and of sending an email to a friend in Tehran that contained information on the rallies, French officials said.