Iran’s supreme leader to pardon “significant number” of protest participants

The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khameneihas announced this Sunday the amnesty and the sentence reduction of “a significant number” of demonstrators convicted in the protests that have shaken the country in recent months, on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the return of Ayatollah Khomeini from exile and the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The amnesty will apply to those who have not spied for foreign powers or had contacts with intelligence services of other countries; killed or injured individuals or participated in the destruction of public or military property, reported Mizan, a news agency for the Judiciary.

The authorities, however, have not reported how many of the nearly 20,000 detainees in protests -according to foreign NGOs- will benefit from this measure.

Iran has lived through protests since the death in police custody in September Mahsa Amini after being arrested for not wearing the Islamic headscarf properly.

The authorities have responded to the revolt led by young people who called for the end of the Islamic Republic with strong repression that has caused nearly 500 deaths and 20,000 arrests, of whom several hundred have been sentenced to prison terms and 17 to gallows.

So far four protesters have been executed, one of them in public, which has caused the protests to have lost strength significantly.

Pardoning prisoners is a common practice on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which is commemorated on February 11, and in addition to those convicted of the protests, an amnesty has been announced for “tens of thousands” of prisoners.

The president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisí, has affirmed that the celebrations this year of the 4th anniversary of the overthrow of the last Shah are aimed at “helping the people to follow the correct path”.