Watchdog

The director of Iran's reformist Shargh newspaper has been released on bail, one day after being arrested over a report about "prostitution" in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Mehdi Rahmanian was released on April 29 after posting bail of 500 million rials ($9,000), Iranian news agencies reported.

On April 8, Shargh published a report on the killing of a 6-year-old Afghan girl in the Shahid Rajai district of Masshad, Iran's second-largest city.

The article quoted an official as saying several brothels were located in the district and that drug abuse was a problem.

The article provoked angry protests by locals, who demonstrated in front of the local mosque and called on authorities to "take action" against the newspaper.

Shargh is one of Iran's most prominent reformist newspapers and has supported President Hasan Rohani.

Based on reporting by AFP and Fars

The Iranian government has confirmed the arrest of a British-Iranian professor on suspicion of violating security laws.

Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, a spokesman for Iran's judiciary, said on April 29 that Abbas Edalat had been arrested in Tehran on April 25.

Edalat is a professor of computer science at London's Imperial College and holds both British and Iranian citizenship.

"I confirm his arrest on security charges, but I am unable to give details," Ejehi told state broadcaster IRIB.

Iran's Fars news agency reported on April 26 that Edalat is accused of being part of an "infiltration network affiliated with Britain."

An unknown number of other accused members of the purported network were also reportedly detained.

At least three other British citizens are currently being held in Iran.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has arrested around 30 dual nationals over the last three years, most of them on spying charges.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters