The UN had urged the Iranian authorities to release Nasrin Sotoudeh
Iran is reported to have freed at least 11 political prisoners, including noted human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.
The eight women and three men are said to also include the reformist politician Mohsen Aminzadeh.
Ms Sotoudeh was arrested in 2010 and jailed for six years on charges of acting against national security.
The release of the political prisoners comes just days before
Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani visits New York for the UN General
Assembly.
In his election campaign, he promised to free political prisoners.
Ms Sotoudeh's husband, Reza Khandan, told Reuters news agency
that she had been dropped off at their home by prison officials on
Wednesday evening.
President Hassan Rouhani has promised to introduce reforms
"It is not a temporary release, it's freedom," he said by phone from Tehran.
"They put her in a car and dropped her off at the house."
Ms Sotoudeh is a well-respected and outspoken human rights lawyer known for taking on high-profile political cases.
Mohsen Aminzadeh, a former deputy foreign minister under
President Mohammed Khatami, was jailed in 2010 for organising protests
and spreading propaganda against the system.
He was a prominent supporter of the defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Analysts say that since President Rouhani's election, there have been growing calls for the release of political prisoners.
According to an investigation by the UK's Guardian newspaper,
there are close to 800 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience
in Iran.
They include journalists, lawyers, human rights activists,
bloggers, feminists, Christian priests, Sunni clerics, the entire
leadership of the Bahai faith in Iran, and others.
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