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Good news about the situation of journalists behind bars in Iran is rare, especially these days when the regime has stepped up its crackdown on any sign of dissent ahead of Friday's parliamentary elections.

But here is some good news, of a sort: Three Iranian journalists, Marzieh Rasouli, Parastoo Dokouhaki and Sahamoddin Bourghani - whose arrests we reported here in January - have now been released after securing bail, according to opposition websites. But it hasn't come cheap. Rasouli, a prominent journalist working for a reformist newspaper in Tehran, is reported to have provided the equivalent of almost £100,000.

Since their arrests, the three have had little access to the outside world. Their friends and families who were worried for their safety, can now breathe a sigh of relief. Although it's not necessarily the end of their troubles. They might yet be summoned to court and face trial.

At the time of the arrests, it was unclear why the authorities had gone for them but some of their friends were under the impression that the regime had picked them up on suspicion of having links to the BBC's Persian TV, which is banned in the country. Human rights activists warned that Rasouli, Dokouhaki and Bourghani were under pressure ... >>>