French President Nicolas Sarkozy is working to secure the release of a French academic who is among the accused in a mass trial in Iran, the president's office said Monday, AP reported. France's Foreign Ministry called the release of Clotilde Reiss and a French-Iranian woman also on trial, Nazak Afshar, «our very first priority.» Reiss, 24, was arrested July 1 after five months teaching in the Iranian city of Isfahan and after taking photos of an Iranian opposition demonstration. She and Afshar, an employee of France's Embassy, are among more than 100 people on trial in Tehran, accused of challenging the Islamic system. Others include prominent reformist activists and political figures. Sarkozy, who is on vacation in southern France, is following Reiss' case «extremely attentively» and is «multiplying his contacts among all those» who could help secure her release, a presidential aide said. The aide would not provide details of whom Sarkozy was talking with or their nationalities, citing security reasons. France's ambassador in Tehran is in «constant contact with the Iranian authorities» about the two women's detention, Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal told an online briefing Monday. -- SPA