Court to review parole for Iranian agent serving life sentence

AFP - A French terrorism judge will examine Wednesday a parole request from an Iranian agent serving a life sentence in France for the 1991 murder of the Shah's last prime minister.
   
Ali Vakili Rad was convicted in 1994 of stabbing Shapour Bakhtiar to death at his home in Suresnes, west of Paris, on August 7, 1991. He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole until July 2, 2009.

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The parole request comes before the judge at a time when France is seeking the release from Iran of 24-year-old academic Clotilde Reiss, who is on trial on charges of acting against Iranian national security.
   
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has linked Reiss' release to the fate of Iranian nationals held in French jails.
   
Reiss, who has been staying at the French embassy in Tehran during her trial, was arrested on July 1 shortly before she was due to fly home after a six-month study and teaching stint in the city of Isfahan.
   
She was accused of taking and emailing photos of the protests that erupted after the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad in June, and handing material to a diplomat at the French embassy in Tehran.
   
Vakili Rad's lawyer Sorin Margulis said on Tuesday that a judge would begin examining the request on Wednesday and was expected to reserve judgement.
   
A decision in favour of parole could allow Vakili Rad to return to Iran.