Iran pardons 22,000 people who took part in protests

Reuters

March 13, 2023

A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the countrys morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul on September 20, 2022. — AFP/File — A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the country's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul on September 20, 2022. — AFP/File

Iranian judicial authorities have pardoned 22,000 people who took part in anti-government protests, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Monday, according to the official IRNA news agency.

State media reported early last month that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had pardoned "tens of thousands" of prisoners including some arrested in the protests in a deadly crackdown on dissent.

"So far 82,000 people have been pardoned, including 22,000 people who participated in (the) protests," Ejei said.

He did not specify over what period the pardons were granted or if or when the people had been charged.

Iran has been swept by protests since the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the country's morality police last September.

Iranians from all walks of life have taken part, marking one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.