Detained Frenchman freed by Iran, France says

PARIS, Feb 25 (Reuters) A Frenchman held in Iran for more than a year for illegal entry has been pardoned by the country's supreme leader and released, France said today.

Stephane Lherbier, who has owned a fishing business in the United Arab Emirates since 2004, was detained with a German tourist near the disputed island of Abu Musa, over which both Iran and the UAE claim sovereignty.

''I have just been told that Stephane Lherbier has been freed after receiving a pardon from Ayatollah Khamenei,'' French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said in a statement.

Douste-Blazy said he hoped Donald Klein, the German citizen held by Iranian coast guards at the same time as Lherbier in late 2005, would be freed in the next few days.

Abu Musa is one of three strategic islands at the centre of a dispute between the two Gulf neighbours since 1972, along with the Lesser and Greater Tunbs.

The UAE wants the issue to be resolved through direct talks or the International Court of Justice but Tehran has rejected outside mediation.

Lherbier's wife said last year he was not aware that Abu Musa was disputed territory as a UAE map showed it belonged to the Gulf Arab state.

REUTERS SAM RAI2347