Iran’s supreme leader issues pardon for ‘tens of thousands’ of prisoners.
Iran’s supreme leader has pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners including some arrested in recent anti-government protests, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday, after a deadly state crackdown helped quell the nationwide unrest.
However, the pardon approved by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came with conditions, according to details announced in state media reports, which said the measure would not apply to any of the numerous dual nationals held in Iran.
State news agency IRNA said those accused of “corruption on earth” – a capital charge brought against some protesters, four of whom have been executed would also not be pardoned.
IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER PARDONS 2,654 PRISONERS FOR EID HOLIDAYS
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pardoned or commuted the sentences of 2,654 prisoners in honor of Eid al-Adha and Ghadir Khum. The Iranian Constitution allows the supreme leader to grant pardons on special occasions,… pic.twitter.com/AuQsubo5Of
— Live Updates (@LiveupdatesUS) June 16, 2024
Neither would it apply to those charged with “spying for foreign agencies” or those “affiliated with groups hostile to the Islamic Republic”, state media reported.
As Iran’s supreme leader issues pardon for ‘tens of thousands’ of prisoners, Iran was swept by protests following the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the country’s morality police last September.
Iranians from all walks of life took part, marking one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.
Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei is an Iranian Twelver Shia marja’ and politician who has been the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989.
He previously served as third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989.
