PARIS — French Jews used the occasion of Iranian President Mohammed Khatami’s recent visit to Paris to pressure the French government to confront him about the 13 Iranian Jews held on charges of spying.
In the midst of more than 1,000 Iranian emigres and others protesting Iran’s alleged human rights violations, more than 120 Jews assembled in Paris on Wednesday of last week to demand that the French government intervene to free the Jewish prisoners.
A dozen other protests took place simultaneously in Jewish communities in smaller cities in France.
French President Jacques Chirac met with Khatami and requested an “equitable examination” of the case against the 13 Jews, who were charged several months ago with spying for Israel.
In a speech last Friday before the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Khatami claimed that the 13 would receive a fair trial. He also promised the prisoners would be allowed to see their families and lawyers.
“Be assured that the trial will be fair and just,” he said, maintaining he would leave its outcome to the courts. The date for the trial has not been set.
In the same speech, however, Khatami, the first Iranian leader to visit France since the 1979 Islamic revolution, continued to point his finger at the Jewish people. “There is a Zionist lobby making great efforts to make problems” for Iran, he said.
In a separate address to the 30th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO, Israeli Education Minister Yossi Sarid refuted as “totally baseless” the charges of espionage.
“As an authorized representative of the Israeli government, I declare that these Jews have never worked for Israel and did not spy for it,” Sarid said.
The French Jewish community had rallied in advance of Khatami’s visit by circulating a petition calling for the immediate release of the 13. More than 50 prominent intellectuals and politicians, including former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe and current Paris Mayor Jean Tiberi, signed the document.
The Representative Consul of French Jewish Institutions circulated the petition and organized the numerous rallies.
Disturbed by France’s eagerness to do business with Iran, Henri Hajdenberg, CRIF’s president, said at the rally, “We cannot accept that France signs economic agreements with Iran while human rights are not respected there.”
Meanwhile, Sarid said Israel is ready for peaceful relations with Iran if the country abandons its hostilities toward the Jewish state and the peace process.
Sarid also called on UNESCO to help arrange a meeting between himself and his Syrian counterpart. The minister urged UNESCO to “plant seeds of peace” between Israel and Syria.