TEHERAN - IRAN on Sunday freed a British-Greek journalist and police said they had let go most other people detained in election protests but fresh challenges were made to the outcome of the presidential vote.

Washington Times reporter Iason Athanasiadis-Fowden 'who was arrested for activities contradictory to journalism and in connection with the recent street riots was freed today,' foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told ISNA news agency.

The Greek foreign ministry said he would leave Iran later on Sunday.

'With the help of the Greek embassy, he is to leave Teheran by the end of the day,' the embassy said in a statement. He was expected to fly to Greece, where his mother lives.

Britain said it was expecting Teheran to release an eighth staffer from nine embassy employees detained for allegedly stoking post-election riots.

Iran's chief of police Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam said that of more than 1,000 people arrested in the post-election violence which rocked Teheran, 'two-thirds have been freed,' the official IRNA news agency reported.

The announcement following the June 12 poll that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected with more than 60 per cent of the vote sparked massive street protests in Teheran and other major cities.

In the ensuing violence 20 people were killed and 1,032 arrested, according to police. Human rights groups have said as many as 2,000 were arrested.

Mr Ahmadinejad's re-election was initially challenged by all three defeated candidates, and runner-up Mir Hossein Mousavi late on Saturday renewed his accusations that the voting process was full of 'irregularities.' A 25-page report prepared by the former prime minister's campaign office accused Mr Ahmadinejad of abusing the state machinery during the campaign and distributing cash to secure the votes of working class Iranians.

The report, posted on Mr Mousavi's campaign website Ghalamnews, asked why the interior ministry had printed 14 million more ballot papers than the total registered electorate of some 46 million. -- AFP