France says envoy meets French teacher jailed in Iran

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The French ambassador to Iran on Thursday met a French university teaching assistant arrested in Iran last week and accused of espionage, the French Foreign Ministry said, dismissing the charge as "absolutely baseless."

The statement echoed French President Nicolas Sarkozy's demand on Tuesday that Iran release Clotilde Reiss, 23, immediately.

"The young woman is in good health but she is obviously worried. However, she appears to be very solid mentally," said a Foreign Ministry statement.

"The ambassador (Bernard Poletti) was able to pass on messages from her family as well as clothes and books."

Earlier on Thursday, a senior diplomat told Reuters the meeting was the embassy's first "real" contact with Reiss.

Reiss was preparing to return home after spending five months as a French language teaching assistant at the University of Isfahan when she was arrested on spying charges on July 1.

Iranian authorities accuse the West of inciting unrest in the Islamic republic after the June 12 vote in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected.

The French Foreign Ministry statement called on Iran to respect international laws.

"We count on the Iranian authorities to guarantee visiting rights as international law prescribes," it said.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has told parliament Reiss had been present at protest demonstrations after Iran's election and had posted some photographs and comments on the Internet.

The election, which defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi said was rigged, led to the most widespread street protests in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday it was the world's "freest" election.

(Additional reporting by Paris Buro, Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Janet Lawrence)