AFP - Iranian former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who has been sentenced to six years in prison in connection with protests over June's presidential election, has been released on bail, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
Abtahi, who was a close aide of reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami, was granted bail pending appeal of the jail term handed down by the court of first instance, the ISNA news agency reported.
Under Iranian law, any jail sentence of three months or more is subject to appeal and a convict can be granted bail for the 20-day period allowed for one to be lodged.
"Abtahi was released this afternoon after he paid the bail amount," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi told IRNA.
ISNA quoted the head of the revolutionary courts as saying that bail was set at seven billion rials (700,000 US dollars).
"Abtahi was sentenced to six years in prison for acting against national security and propaganda activity," the news agency quoted the courts chief as saying without giving his name.
The former vice president was among scores of opposition figures who were arrested shortly after the publication of official election results giving hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term.
He had remained in custody ever since.
An Iranian website reported earlier that Abtahi had appeared in court on Saturday and been found guilty of a variety of charges including "gathering and plotting against the country's security, propaganda against the regime, insulting the president and participating in an illegal demonstration."
The report said the court had used as evidence posts on his web log, an interview with the BBC's Persian service and participation in a protest rally on June 15, when hundreds of thousands marched across Tehran.
The judiciary official told ISNA that Abtahi was still facing prosecution before the revolutionary courts on the additional charge of "keeping classified documents."
Protesters charging the election was massively rigged held a series of mass demonstrations this summer, plunging the Islamic republic into one of its worst crisis in 30 years.
Thousands were arrested and dozens killed. The opposition charges that a number of those detained were abused or raped in custody. About 140 protesters have been tried and five have been sentenced to death.
Abtahi, who was detained only a few days after the June 12 vote, reportedly withdrew his accusations of electoral fraud when he appeared in court on August 1 and expressed regret that he had taken part in the protests.
The opposition has condemned the "show trials" and "forced confessions," and called for the prisoners' unconditional release.
presidential elections in Iran (June 2009)
Former Iranian vice-president Mohammed Ali Abtahi has been released on bail pending appeal after being sentenced to six years in prison on Saturday for his part in the protests following the presidential elections in June.

"Abtahi was sentenced to six years in prison for acting against national security and propaganda activity," an anonymous court official told the ''INSA'' news agency. According to the agency, he was released on bail set at seven billion rials (); under Iranian law, all convictions of a minimum of three months are subject to appeal and bail may be granted for the first twenty days to allow anyone sentenced to lodge one. "Abtahi was released this afternoon after he paid the bail amount," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi told IRNA.

Abtahi, who was as a minister and vice-president under President Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005, is amongst thousands who were arrested following protests; two hundred still behind bars of which around eighty have been sentenced to jail and a further five to death. He has remained in custody ever since his arrest. He was convicted of various charges, including "gathering and plotting against the country's security, propaganda against the regime, insulting the president and participating in an illegal demonstration." He also faces further charges of "keeping classified documents."

Opposition critics have called the prosecutions "laughable show trials" and spoken of "forced confessions". They have called for the unconditional release of prisoners. On Friday, a United Nations committee passed a vote to approve a non-binding resolution which condemns Iran for its reaction to the protests following the election, criticising Iran's record on human rights, highlighting torture and executions. The committee has also called on the Iranian government to stop persecuting its political opponents and release political prisoners.