Iran frees journalists swept up in protests

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By ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN (AP) | Iranian authorities have released three journalists who were among more than 100 people arrested during pro-government and opposition street demonstrations last week, the country's official news agency reported.

One of the reporters, Farhad Pouladi, is an Iranian who works for Agence France-Presse. The other two are foreign reporters, but the report by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) did not identify them or say for whom they work.

Police detained 109 people during the rallies last week, IRNA said. Sixty-two of them were handed over to judicial authorities for trial on charges of disturbing public order, and the rest were released after questioning, said security spokesman Azizollah Rajabzadeh, according to the news report.

Iranian security forces beat anti-government protesters with batons Wednesday on the sidelines of state-sanctioned rallies to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover. The counter-demonstrations were the opposition's first major show of force on Tehran's streets in nearly two months.

The protests showed the determination of Iran's opposition to reassert its voice, but the latest marches drew far fewer demonstrators than in the weeks after the disputed June 12 presidential election, suggesting the relentless pressure by authorities could be taking a toll.

The protesters believe that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory over a pro-reform candidate was rigged.

The IRNA report said the three journalists released Saturday had been taken into custody Wednesday as they headed to cover the rallies outside the former U.S. Embassy.

Iran has imposed wide-ranging restrictions on the news media that include bans on firsthand reporting of street demonstrations and other events not authorized by authorities.

IRNA said two political activists jailed over the country's post-election turmoil, Ali Tajernia and Ebrahim Amini, have also been released on bail pending a verdict in their trial.

More than a 100 political activists and protesters have stood trial since August on charges of seeking to topple the ruling system through what the government has described as a "velvet revolution."

The Islamist government's crackdown on opposition protests after the election complicated U.S. efforts to engage Tehran, especially over Iran's nuclear program.

The U.S. and other Western nations suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies that and claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

A new U.N.-brokered plan requires Iran to send 1.2 tons of low-enriched uranium - around 70 percent of its stockpile - to Russia in one batch by the end of the year, easing concerns the material would be used for a bomb.

Iran has repeatedly delayed its response to the plan.

On Saturday, senior Iranian lawmakers rejected any possibility of Tehran shipping uranium abroad for further enrichment, intensifying pressure on the government to reject the plan altogether.

Prominent conservative lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi was quoted by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency as saying Iran won't ship its low-enriched uranium abroad in a single batch or in several shipments, a compromise suggested by some government officials, under any circumstances.

Earlier, Iran had indicated that it may agree to send only "part" of its stockpile in several shipments. The United States and its allies are unlikely to accept anything substantially less than the original plan.

On Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, signaled that Moscow could back sanctions against Iran if it fails to take a constructive stance in international talks over its nuclear program.