Global General
Over 2,000 French nationals detained in foreign countries
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-25 04:59
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PARIS: French State Secretary of Cooperation Alain Joyandet said Thursday that there were 2,230 nationals detained in foreign countries and the government was trying to pull them back.
French authorities, including President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, have committed themselves to " try all means to bring back those French nationals detained abroad, " Joyandet said at a news conference.
He specially mentioned Clotilde Reiss, a French woman lecturer charged of espionage and provoking unrest in Iran, and Michael Blanc, a French man confined in Indonesian prison after convicted for drug trafficking.
Arrested at Tehran airport on July 1, Reiss stood trial Wednesday for the third time in Iranian court, but no verdict was issued as the judge demanding further hearing in spite of France's reiteration of her innocence.
Sentenced to life imprisonment in Indonesia, Blanc has served 10 years' confinement since being arrested in 1999.
Also on Thursday, two French women charged of drug trafficking in 2008 were released from the Caribbean island nation Dominica.
