Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners, including some arrested in recent anti-government protests, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday (February 5). The pardons are said to be made in honour of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The pardons, however, comes with conditions. Among said conditions is that the amnesty would not apply to any of the numerous dual nationals held in Iran, those accused of “corruption on earth”, and those charged with “spying for foreign agencies” or those “affiliated with groups hostile to the Islamic Republic.
It is also noted that the accusation of “corruption on earth”, which is a capital charge, has already been brought against some protesters – four of whom have been executed.
Iran was also swept by protests following the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the country’s morality police last September. The demonstrations marked one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.
