Agent Exiled for N. Zealand Blast Freed, Pregnant

PARIS — A French secret agent convicted of manslaughter in the 1985 bombing of an anti-nuclear protest ship off New Zealand was freed today from exile at a French military base in the Pacific because she is pregnant, Premier Jacques Chirac said.

Chirac said the return of Capt. Dominique Prieur respects a U.N.-mediated accord with New Zealand under which she was held.

But New Zealand criticized Prieur’s release as “a breach of France’s obligation under international law.”

Prieur, 38, and Alain Mafart, 37, were arrested after the July, 1985, Auckland Harbor bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, a ship of the environmental group Greenpeace. It was preparing to lead a protest flotilla to Mururoa, a South Pacific island where France conducts underground nuclear tests.

Dutch Crewman Killed

A Dutch crewman on the Rainbow Warrior was killed in the bombing.

“Mrs. Prieur is now pregnant, and the accord foresaw that, in this circumstance, she should be returned to Paris,” the premier said during a stop in the town of Agen where he was campaigning for Sunday’s runoff against President Francois Mitterrand.

The New Zealand opposition National Party leader, Jim Bolger, a strong critic of the U.N. accord, said the repatriations of Prieur and Mafart showed the original deal was worthless.

Mafart was brought back to France in December after complaining of a stomach disorder. New Zealand officials have tried and failed to force his return.

Bolger said Chirac clearly believed he would benefit by bringing both agents home before the election.