Leading secular journalist freed from Iranian prison

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- An Iranian court freed a leading secular journalist on Saturday after four months in jail, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Masoud Behnoud, a veteran political commentator and author, was freed from Evin prison after posting bail, days after he appeared in court to answer 85 charges.

He was arrested in August, accused of acting against the Islamic state in a series of critical editorials in liberal publications, most of which are now banned.

Behnoud was among several reformist journalists and political activists jailed in the past months in a hardline campaign against President Mohammad Khatami's cultural liberalisation policies.

Behnoud, in his 50s, announced during his trial that he had decided to leave journalism after a career lasting more than three decades.

He began as a television reporter before the 1979 Islamic revolution and has been a regular contributor to literary and liberal political publications in the past two decades.

He has also published many books and, until his arrest, was a regular commentator on Iran for the British Broadcasting Corporation's Farsi service.

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