Iran's judiciary releases detained AFP reporter (Roundup)

Nov 7, 2009, 16:34 GMT

Tehran - Iran's judiciary on Saturday freed an Agence France Presse (AFP) reporter who was detained during a demonstration earlier this week in Tehran, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Farhad Pouladi was arrested by security agents while covering a protest demonstration in Tehran on Wednesday, despite a ban against foreign media directly covering street unrests.

'An Iranian correspondent of the French news agency who was detained on the sideline of Wednesday's rally was freed upon the approval of the Tehran's Revolutionary Court,' IRNA reported, citing a statement issued by the judiciary.

Only a few days after the disputed June 12 presidential election, which plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution, foreign media were banned from directly covering the street protests.

Thousands of supporters of the Iranian opposition on Wednesday stormed into the streets again and protested against the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Tehran's police said earlier on Saturday that more than 100 people were detained on charges of 'disturbing the public order' during the Wednesday's demonstration in Tehran.

According to Tehran's police, 47 were released, but the rest are still in jail and their files were sent to the judiciary for further actions.

Several journalists and foreign nationals were also arrested by security forces. Two Germans and a Canadian were freed later on Friday.

Opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who say the June 12 presidential election was rigged to secure Ahmadinejad's victory, had urged their supporters to continue their protest and to take to the streets.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards and their allied Basij militia had warned the opposition not to try to hijack the annual rally to revive protests against the clerical establishment that began after the disputed vote.