Iran releases Frenchman held for 15 months

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2007

TEHRAN (AFP) — A French national jailed in Iran for more than a year for straying into territorial waters during a fishing expedition was released on Sunday, French diplomats said.

Stephane Lherbier was arrested on November 29, 2005 and sentenced to 18 months in prison along with German Donald Klein, who could also be released in the coming days.

"The consul went to get him (Lherbier) from Evin prison this afternoon," a French diplomat in Tehran told AFP on condition of anonymity. "He's a little surprised but happy to be free."

The diplomat said Lherbier would leave Iran in the coming hours.

The Frenchman was granted clemency by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said earlier in Paris, adding that he...