Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pardons, commutes sentences of people arrested during deadly protests
Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pardoned or commuted the sentences of “tens of thousands” of Iranian prisoners arrested during the protests in the country, Iranian state-owned news network Press TV reported on Sunday.
The Leader on Sunday agreed to a request by Iran’s Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei to pardon or reduce the sentences of inmates subject to mitigating circumstances.
Ayatollah Khamenei issued the approval on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution, which put an end to the ruling of the US-backed Pahlavi regime in the country in 1979, and the birthday anniversary of the first Shia Imam, Imam Ali (AS).
The prisoners, who were granted clemency, had had their verdicts issued at courts of common pleas and Islamic Revolution tribunals, the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces, and the State Discretionary Punishment Organization.
The official amnesty request was approved in line with the implementation of the 11th paragraph of the Constitution’s Article 110, which grants the Leader the right to pardon or reduce the sentences of convicts upon a recommendation from the head of the Judiciary.
The Leader regularly issues such verdicts on the occasion of religious festivities.
Sources: Press TV