AFP - Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh, who is serving a five year jail term, has been freed temporarily to celebrate the Persian New Year after paying a hefty bail, Tehran's prosecutor said on Sunday.

Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said Tajbakhsh, an urban planning expert, was "freed for 15 days after paying 800,000 dollars bail," the ISNA news agency reported.

Masoud Shafiei, Tajbakhsh's lawyer, confirmed his client had been released late Saturday.

Tajbakhsh was initially sentenced for 15 years but an appeals court later reduced the penalty to five years in jail.

He was arrested during a crackdown on the opposition in the wake of the dispute over presidential elections last year and was found guilty of harming national security.

Iranian authorities have released several reformists, journalists and opposition supporters in recent weeks ahead of the start of the new year on March 21.

The dispute over the return to power of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last June led to a widespread crackdown by authorities which saw thousands of people detained.