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Iranian authorities have released on bail a top reformist jailed since last June, a film maker and a reformist journalist ahead of Iranian New Year celebrations, opposition websites said on Thursday.

Mohsen Mirdamadi, former MP and secretary of Iran's largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, was released after posting bail of about 450,000 dollars on Wednesday, kaleme.com said.

Jailed since June 20, Mirdamadi is awaiting a verdict on charges of acting against national security and propaganda against the Islamic republic.

The authorities released film director Mohammad Rasoulof for 20 days on bail of 100,000 dollars, the Kaleme and Rahesabz websites said.

Rasoulof was arrested on March 1 in a raid on the Tehran home of renowned director Jafar Panahi.

Reformist journalist Akbar Montajabi, arrested on February 8, was also released on bail on Wednesday.

Montajabi was the political editor of Irandokht weekly which was shut down by the hardline press watchdog earlier this month.

The Iranian New Year begins on March 21.

Iranian authorities have cracked down on opposition supporters since protests erupted in June last year against the disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The courts have sentenced several top reformists and political activists to varying jail terms after convicting them of acting against the regime.

Several detainees have been released in recent weeks, despite news reports that 10 protesters charged with taking part in the post-election unrest have been sentenced to death.

On January 28, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmani Pour, two members of a monarchist group, were executed. It was unclear when they were arrested, but they were put on trial along with several other post-election protesters.

AFP