Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Iran detained several foreign reporters who were covering demonstrations in Tehran on Nov. 4, when opposition supporters used the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy seizure to revive protests over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.

Two Canadian and one Japanese reporter were held, the state-run Fars news agency reported today, adding that they were arrested for “unauthorized reporting.” It didn’t identify the reporters or the media for which they worked.

A Danish journalism student was held in connection with a demonstration two days ago, the Associated Press reported, citing the Danish Union of Journalists. Niels Krogsgaard is a member of the union who went to Iran to write an academic paper on Iranian politics, AP said.

Opposition supporters, who have alleged that the outcome of the June 12 presidential election was rigged, held demonstrations in the capital to coincide with state-sponsored celebrations of the 1979 embassy seizure. Riot police fired into the air and used tear gas to disperse the opposition protests.

Farhad Pouladi, a reporter for Agence France-Presse, was also detained in Tehran on Nov. 4, AFP said. Two uniformed police officers and one in plain clothes took Pouladi into custody after stopping the motorcycle on which he was a passenger, AFP said.

“The claim about the arrest of the AFP journalist is under investigation,” the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency cited Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying today.

The announcement of Ahmadinejad’s victory in the June 12 vote prompted mass demonstrations and some 4,000 arrests. Ahmadinejad denied the allegations of fraud.

Journalists’ Arrests

Many journalists were among those arrested, including Mohammad Ghouchani, the editor-in-chief of Etemade Melli newspaper. Ghouchani has since been released on bail.

A woman reporter, Hengameh Shahidi, was released on bail Nov. 2 on the eighth day of a hunger strike after 124 days in Tehran’s Evin prison, Norooz opposition Web site reported.

Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian reporter working for Newsweek, was freed on Oct. 20 after four months in jail and allowed to fly to London.

Though many protesters have since been released, some activists and key opposition figures remain in detention. More than 140 have been put on trial on charges of attempting to topple the Islamic establishment. Iranian officials said 36 people were killed in street clashes, while the opposition put the toll at 72 and said some of the deaths occurred in detention.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ali Sheikholeslami in London at alis2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 6, 2009 06:17 EST