Tehran Police: Over 100 Arrested at Nov. 4 Protests

Iranian media say authorities have freed a detained journalist but are holding more than 60 other people arrested during street protests this week.

The state-run IRNA news agency says Farhad Pouladi was released Saturday. His employer, the French news agency, says it has no confirmation of the release and has not been in touch with the Tehran-based journalist.

Security forces detained Pouladi Wednesday as he was going to cover a government-sponsored rally marking the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

Protests against the Iranian government were happening at the same time Wednesday in the capital and other cities.

The Tehran police chief, Azizollah Rajabzadeh, says 109 people were arrested during the rallies. He told state media 47 of them were released on bail, but 62 are still in detention facing unspecified charges.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran says security forces and militia used "brutal force" to disperse the thousands of Iranians who joined the anti-government protests this week.

The rallies were some of the largest demonstrations reported since the massive street protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in June. The president's critics say he stole the vote through fraud at the ballot box.

Many people were reported killed in the government crackdown, and more than 1,000 political activists, journalists and other were detained.

Iran has banned foreign journalists from covering street protests since then.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.