"(Hassan) Lahouti, who was arrested on Sunday morning on orders from the judiciary on suspicion of committing some security crimes, was released from prison after being questioned and expressing remorse," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said.
The prosecutor added that Lahouti, who was arrested on arrival from London, was released on Monday after posting 73,000 dollars in bail and that his case has been sent to court for further investigation. He gave no further details.
The opposition website Rahesabz.net said that "insulting the supreme leader (Aytollah Ali Khamenei) was the reason behind Lahouti's arrest."
"Lahouti, during one of his telephone conversations from London that was listened to by security forces, had criticised Khamenei," the website said.
"According to the authorities, the words used in the call constituted an insult to the leader," it added.
Insulting top Iranian officials can incur a jail sentence.
Rafsanjani, who served for two terms between 1989 and 1997, has been heavily criticised by hardliners for his support of the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi in his challenge to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Rafsanjani heads two powerful institutions in the Islamic republic, the Assembly of Experts, which has the power to supervise and replace the supreme leader, and the arbitration body, the Expediency Council.
Iranian security serves cracked down on hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters who took to the streets after Ahmadinejad's re-election, protesting that the poll was massively rigged.
The courts have sentenced several top reformists and political activists to varying jail terms after convicting them of acting against the regime.
Several detainees have been released on bail in recent weeks, but 10 protesters charged with taking part in the post-election unrest have been sentenced to death, according to news reports.
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