At this point the Iranian regime has lost legitimacy and knows it needs to regain it. The route it has chosen is to blame the West for everything throw enough big lies out there and hope it sticks. The question is whether or not the average Iranian will believe it?The trial of Frenchwoman Clotilde Reiss in a Tehran courtroom on espionage charges stemming from recent protests in Iran has provoked outrage in Europe. German commentators argue that the EU hasn't been firm enough in dealing with Iran and that the current "show trial" is a result.
Since the weekend the world has known young Frenchwoman Clotilde Reiss' face. The 24-year-old academic was one of hundreds of protestors against the newly elected Iranian government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be arrested in the country. On Saturday, wearing a headscarf and traditional dress, she took to the witness stand in Tehran in what is largely being described as a "show trial."
Like many of the others on trial -- including, controversially, members of staff of the British embassy, a former vice president of Iran and several other prominent figures -- Reiss is alleged by Iranian media to have made a confession. "I wrote a one-page report about the situation in Isfahan ... and handed it over to the French embassy's cultural section," the official news agency, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted her as saying in court. "I sent e-mails (to friends and family) to let them know that the demonstrations were peaceful."
"I realize this was a mistake," she said, according to another news agency, the semi-official Fars (FNA). "I apologize to the court and the people of Iran, and I hope they will forgive me."
Reiss, who had been teaching at a university in the city of Isfahan for the past five months, was arrested shortly before she was to leave the country. A long time student of Iran -- growing up in Paris her nanny was Iranian and taught her to speak Persian, she had travelled extensively in the country and wrote her Master's thesis on the Iranian education system -- Reiss' contract with the university was supposed to run for two years. But visa hassles saw her decide to leave early and return to Paris, via Beirut to visit old friends there. But those friends were left waiting, clueless, at Beirut airport on July 2.
After enquiring about her whereabouts, Iranian officials informed French embassy workers that Reiss had been arrrested by authorities after the recent protests that rocked Tehran. The protests against the allegedly false election results turned violent and, in some cases, deadly. Reiss had been arrested at the airport the night before and was being held in the Evin prison in northwestern Tehran. The jail is a notorious holding bay for political prisoners; Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist released in May, was also held there.
The French government strongly denied charges of espionage and diplomats had been trying to negotiate Reiss' release without success. Photos published over the weekend of a pale faced Reiss in the Iranian dock have focused even more attention on the so-called show trial, which started last week.
"An Action Against all of the EU"
Reactions from Europe and elsewhere have been swift. As current rotating president of the European Union, Sweden released a statement saying, "actions against one EU country, citizen or embassy staff are considered an action against all of the EU, and will be treated accordingly."
British Foreign Minister David Miliband said the trial brought the Iranian regime into "further disrepute." Also on trial is Hossein Rassam, an expert political analyst working at the British embassy. A statement by the British Foreign Ministry described the trial as an "outrage" and said that, "this is completely unacceptable and directly contradicts assurances we had been given repeatedly by senior Iranian officials."
And the French Foreign Ministry issued another strong protest about the trial of Reiss and a female staffer from their own embassy, Nazak Afshar, who is also on trial.
Observers say that the reactions of the Iranian government toward the international diplomatic protests and the accusations of torture and other abuse within jails where the political prisoners are being held, shows continuing discord within its own ranks.
German commentators believe that the European Union should continue to protest strongly against the show trials in Iran and try to secure the release of embassy staff and Clotilde Reiss. And while some commentators rail against the hypocrisy of recognising the new regime in Iran, then protesting against it, most also acknowledge the inherent contradictions in the situation. The problem, according to German editorialists is this: How do you go through diplomatic channels to solve this problem when you don't wish to work with a government that is generally regarded as non-democratic?
Business daily Handelsblatt writes:
"These proceedings are all about constructing a conspiracy theory about an Iranian opposition with links to forces in the West. And to create that fiction, any material, any trick, any device will be used. There is no connection between what happens in that Iranian courtroom and reality. The only thing that counts is the political goal of firming up the state's power -- and that is regardless of what damage is done to the national image."
"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has his hands full trying to build a new cabinet. He has enormous problems with this, and not least with his own conservative friends. He doesn't need anything else to worry about."
"In the meantime, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (or Pasdaran) and the secret service are becoming more central in terms of power. For them, there are only two parties in Iran. There are the defenders of the revolution -- that is, they themselves -- and their enemies. And they are working at full speed to use this break between regimes one and two of Ahmadinejad for their own ends."
The Financial Times Deutschland writes:
"Despite all their diplomatic protests against the rigged election, the Europeans have somehow still managed to recognize the outcome. The fact that the Europeans didn't act more firmly didn't just weaken the Iranian opposition -- it has also come back to haunt their own citizens and their embassy workers, as this show trial reveals."
"The EU should unreservedly reject the Iranian conspiracy theory. But when the various governments send representatives to Ahmadinejad's inauguration, they are doing the opposite."
"It seems that Iran's future course will be determined by the power struggle between the nation's religious leaders. The question is: How useful is conflict with the West for (Ahmadinejad's regime)? Because the less distinct the West's signals are, the more Ahmadinejad will be able to use them for himself."
The leftist Die Tageszeitung writes:
"Human rights are unassailable. And this principle, achieved in Europe over centuries, is something of which we can be justifiably proud. So should this principle simply be thrown overboard as soon as we pass beyond the EU's borders? Or if other considerations, both strategic and economic, come into play?"
"The EU has criticized the way in which the Iranian military has behaved toward the Iranian protest movement. It has also explained why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should not be congratulated on his alleged electoral victory. But that didn't stop EU representatives from taking part in Ahmadinejad's inauguration ceremony."
"Even now when hundreds of members of the Iranian opposition are imprisoned, being tortured and forced into false confessions, Europe only seems to feel the need to react because, among the accused, there is a Frenchwoman and some embassy staff involved."
"It is the right -- and duty -- of every nation to protect its citizens. But how believable are these ambiguous European declarations to the Iranians, being tortured to death in prisons, right now?"
The conservative daily Die Welt writes:
"One really wishes that the stronger tone the EU is taking with Iran would have some affect. But Iran is showing no willingness whatsoever to soften it's stance against members of the Iranian opposition. The accusations against Clotilde Reiss are an open provocation toward the West. The young Frenchwoman has done nothing other than show her solidarity with the millions of Iranians who also protested against the falsification of election results."
"So how can one prevent yet another Bill Clinton-style mission to Iran, a mission where the West rewarded the crime it was actually seeking to fight against? It is quite possible that there will be no other options in order to save the lives of innocent people who have been wrongly convicted."
"One thing is certain though -- under no circumstances, should the EU and Washington stray from a clear course. Only through this sort of fortitude, can the resilient Iranian opposition -- that is, those who genuinely won the Iranian elections -- achieve a breakthrough. Those who want the best for Iran should show similar stamina."
The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
"The accused have apparently made 'confessions.' This awakens some bad memories. During the Moscow "show trials" of the 1930s, Stalin's chief prosecutor established the so-called confession as the best line of legal argument. Today we know exactly how the accused were "persuaded" into their confessions. We cannot know what happened before this show trial in Iran started. But what we can have no doubts about now, is the character of the Iranian regime."
Because in the end it doesn't matter to the Supreme Leader of Iran or to his buddy the selected President if the rest of the world believes or not. But if they can convince enough of the Iranians or cause enough doubt they can cripple the rebels. And that's all they need.