8:57pm UK, Sunday July 19, 2009

The last British Embassy worker being held in Iran has been released, it has emerged.

President Ahmadinejad’s re-election sparked weeks of protests

Nine staff were originally arrested after the disputed re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the street protests that followed.

Mr Rassam, the Embassy’s chief political analyst, has been charged with harming national security for alleged involvement in the protests, his lawyer said.

Abdolsamad Khorramshi said Mr Rassam paid $100,000 bail to be released from Evin prison in Tehran.

His court date has not yet been set.

Of the local employees arrested in June Mr Rassam is the only one who has been charged.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said he is “very glad” at news of the release of Hossein Rassam but said the arrests on June 27 were “completely unjustified”.

At least 20 people are thought to have died during weeks of clashes that followed Iran’s disputed June 12 vote.

All gatherings are now banned and the protests have died down in recent weeks.

Iran has repeatedly accused the West, and Britain in particular, of stoking unrest following the disputed June election.

Tehran has expelled two British diplomats and London has retaliated with tit-for-tat expulsions.

The arrest of the embassy staff strained already tense ties between the two countries.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had warned Iran the European Union was ready to act collectively in response to the arrests and received expressions of solidarity from fellow members of the 27-nation bloc.

“The Iranian regime must be clear that if this action continues and we are forced to act, we will act together with our European partners,” Mr Brown said earlier this month.