Iran releases anti-government protesters

Iranian officials on Sunday said they have released hundreds of detained protesters as weeks of anti-government demonstrations start to subside. Rallies against high unemployment and government corruption began Dec. 28 and quickly spread across the country, killing 25 people. Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said authorities released 440 “arrested rioters” in the capital alone. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejehi told the semiofficial Fars news agency that only 55 people remain in detention in Tehran. Last week, Iranian reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi said authorities had arrested about 3,700 people across the country. Authorities insist security forces have restored order in every city. Iranian ILNA news agency said authorities lifted the ban on the popular messaging app Telegram, which has some 40 million users. Iran blocked Telegram and Instagram during the protests and accused protest leaders of using the apps to spread unrest.