Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. WANA NEWS AGENCY / REUTERS
Iran will pardon or commute the prison sentences of a significant number of convicts, including some arrested during the recent demonstrations, on the occasion of a national holiday.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneiagreed to pardon and reduce the sentence of a significant number of defendants in connection with recent incidents or having been convictedin other cases, said a statement posted on Khamenei’s website.
Thousands of people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the protest movement sparked by the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd.
The press release does not specify the number of people affected by this measure announced on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979.Dozens of thousandsof detainees are likely to benefit, according to media reports.
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Ayatollah Khamenei regularly grants collective pardons during major religious or national holidays, in accordance with justice.
Are excluded from the amnesty the “accused of espionage, murder and intentional wounding, destruction and setting fire to government, military and public installations“, According to the press release.
For its part, the judicial authority announced on its Mizan Online site that individuals arrested in connection with the protest movement will only be released if they sign a “statement of remorse and a written undertaking not to repeat a similar intentional crime“.