Iran announces pardon for 22,000 people detained in anti-regime protests

By Jon Gambrell -

Iran announced on Monday the decision of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to pardon 22,000 people arrested in protests against the regime organized in recent months after the death in September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl detained by police. of morality for allegedly wearing the veil badly.

The announcement by the head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, offers for the first time an idea of ​​the scope of the repression of the demonstrations;

and suggests that the regime now feels secure enough to admit the scale of the protest, one of the most serious challenges since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Demonstration in Tehran on October 8, 2022.AFP via Getty Images

State media had already suggested that Khamenei may pardon large numbers of people to coincide with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan next week.

In total, 82,656 prisoners received pardons, of which some 22,000 had been arrested in the protests, according to the head of the judiciary.

They had not committed robberies or violent crimes.

[No trace of the three women who crossed from Texas to Mexico to sell clothes]

Iran acknowledged in February that "tens of thousands" of people had been detained in the protests, but Monday's announcement suggests the actual number arrested is even higher than activists feared.

The Human Rights Activists group had reported 19,700 detainees and at least 530 deaths.

There is no official figure.

Although the mass demonstrations have cooled off in recent weeks, anger persists in the country, which is torn between the collapse of its currency, the rial, economic problems and the uncertainty of its diplomatic ties with the rest of the world after the failure of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

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The announcement comes ahead of next week's celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and Tuesday's Fire Festival, a nearly 4,000-year-old Persian tradition linked to the Zoroastrian religion.

And it is known days after Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to approach positions and reopen their embassies after seven years without relations.

This deal could help end the year-long war in Yemen, in which a Saudi-led coalition is fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

Fury.

It has also helped boost the rial against the dollar.