"Since influential people can freely defame us, I disapprove of flogging a young man for insulting the president," Ahmadinejad said during a meeting with regional governors.

Peyman Aref, a student activist close to an opposition group, received 74 lashes on Sunday before leaving the prison where he had served a year-long term.

He was sentenced in 2010 to one year in prison for political activities and to the whipping for insulting the president. He has also been banned from participating in any journalistic activities or membership in political parties.

Aref said the flogging stemmed from a letter he had sent to Ahmadinejad.

"I just sent an open letter to the president to describe the catastrophic situation of universities. It did not bear any insults against him. I only said that I would never greet him."

Aref said the sentence and flogging were "illegal" and contradicted Ahmadinejad's assertions of tolerance in Iran.

"Every time Ahmadinejad goes to New York, he boasts of Iran as the world's most free country. But here, in my own country, I was whipped in the most savage manner possible for insulting him," Aref was quoted as saying.