TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran has released all but three of 31 jailed women’s rights activists, ordering them not to attend a protest to mark International Women’s Day in front of the Iranian parliament, one of the women’s lawyers said Thursday.

Hadi Ghaemi, Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the three women still detained are in solitary confinement and have been on a hunger strike since Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International accused the Iranian government of increasing persecution of women’s rights advocates and called on authorities to release the last three women.

Human Rights Watch said the arrests took “Iran’s repression of peaceful activists to a new level.” Security forces arrested the women as they protested the prosecution of five women who are on trial for staging an allegedly illegal demonstration in Tehran in June 2006. The five were among 200 women who demonstrated for legal equality and the nullification of a law that allows Iranian men to have four wives.

The America State Department Thursday said it was deeply disturbed by the reports.

“These repressive actions by the regime highlight an alarming trend of intolerance toward the expression of independent views by the Iranian people,” spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said the women released Thursday were ordered not to attend a protest scheduled in front of the Iranian parliament to mark International Women’s Day.

The protest did not materialize, although several hundred teachers demonstrated peacefully outside parliament, calling for higher wages. Police did not intervene.

Mr. Dadkhah, who represents two of the freed women, said most were freed on bail of between $11,000 and $55,000.

It was not clear why three women continue to be held. Calls to judicial officials were not returned Thursday, the beginning of the weekend in Iran.

One of the three women, Jila Baniyaghoob, is a reporter, Mr. Dadkhah said.

“Her job requires her to attend gatherings,” he said.

Another of the detainees, Shadi Sadr, is a lawyer. The name and occupation of the third woman has not been disclosed.

Mr. Dadkhah criticized the arrests, saying “they had no logical justification” because the women were just taking part in a gathering.

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour expressed concern Tuesday over the detention of the 31 women, saying they were exercising their rights to peaceful assembly.

Reporters Without Borders, which champions a free press, had also condemned the detention of the women and called for their immediate release.

“After censoring Web sites which relay and defend the demands of women’s rights organizations, the Iranian authorities have now deprived (the sites’) main contributors of their freedom,” the Paris-based group said Wednesday.

Iran’s Islamic law imposes tight restrictions on women. They need a male guardian’s permission to work or travel. Women are not allowed to become judges, and a man’s court testimony is considered twice as important as a woman’s.

Despite such restrictions, Iranian women have more rights than their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and some other conservative Muslim countries. They can drive, vote and run for most public offices.