Anti-government protests in Iran, October 1, 2022.
Tehran – Iran has pardoned 22,000 people arrested in large-scale protests that have gripped the Islamic republic. According to the Iranian state agency IRNA, this was announced today by the head of the Iranian judiciary, Gholámhosejn Mohsen Edžeí. The AP was unable to independently verify this claim.
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Iranian state media had previously indicated that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was preparing to grant pardons to protesters in connection with the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which will begin at the end of March.
Edzei said that on the occasion a total of 82,656 prisoners were pardoned during Ramadan, of which approximately 22,000 are people who were arrested during demonstrations. He added that the pardoned prisoners had not committed theft or violent crimes.
Large-scale protests in Iran erupted in mid-September when Mahsá Aminí, a 22-year-old Iranian woman of Kurdish origin, died after being arrested by morality police. Her detention was related to her wearing a hijab, the headscarf that Iranian women are required to wear, incorrectly. However, protests against too rigid religious rules gradually grew into demonstrations against the theocratic government, one of the largest since the revolution of 1979. However, the intensity of the protests has decreased in recent months. tens of thousands of people. In addition, the current announcement of the number of protesters released indicates a higher number than previously reported by activists, writes the AP agency. According to the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) group, more than 19,700 people were arrested and at least 530 people were killed during the protests. For several months now, Iran has not published the number of dead during the demonstrations.
