An Iran-based Newsweek journalist who was arrested last summer during the country's disputed presidential election has been freed, according to Newsweek.

Maziar Bahari, 42, is an Iranian-Canadian reporter and filmmaker who was interviewed by NOW Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa three years ago about the tensions -- and the similarities -- between Tehran and Washington.

According to ABC News, two of the masterminds behind the attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to bring down Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas day were former Guantanamo Bay detainees freed in 2007 who then attended a terror rehabilitation program in Saudi Arabia.

After being released from the program, the former prisoners are believed to have moved to Yemen where they joined al Qaeda as military commanders.

"The so-called rehabilitation programs are a joke," a U.S. diplomat said in describing the Saudi efforts with released Guantanamo detainees.

The controversial Saudi program attempts to rehabilitate terrorists and integrate them back into everyday life through a combination of religious, psychological and social programs. NOW on PBS traveled to Saudi Arabia earlier this year for an inside, in-depth look at the controversial initiative.