BREAKING NEWS

Iran releases 3 journalists jailed during rallies

Iran releases 3 journali

Iranian authorities have released three journalists who were among more than 100 people arrested during pro-government and opposition street demonstrations this 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 IRNA news agency did not identify them or say for whom they work. Police detained 109 people during the rallies this 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 US Embassy takeover. The counter-demonstrations were the opposition's first major show of force on Teheran's streets in nearly two months.