© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with a group of girls who have reached the age of puberty in Tehran, Iran, February 3, 2023. Iran’s Supreme Leader’s Office /WANA (West Asian News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s supreme leader pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners, including some arrested in recent anti-government protests, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday, after a deadly state crackdown helped quell riots across the country.
However, the pardon approved by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came with conditions, according to details announced in state media reports, which said the measure would not apply to any of the numerous dual nationals detained in Iran.
The state news agency IRNA said those accused of “corruption on earth”, a capital charge brought against some protesters, four of whom have been executed, would also not be pardoned.
It would also not apply to those accused of “espionage for foreign agencies” or “affiliated with groups hostile to the Islamic Republic,” state media reported.
Iran was swept by protests following the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the country’s moral police last September. Iranians from all walks of life participated, marking one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.
According to the activist news agency HRANA, some 20,000 people have been arrested in connection with the protests, which authorities accused of fomenting Iran’s foreign enemies.
Human rights groups say more than 500 people have been killed in the crackdown, including 70 minors. At least four people have been hanged, according to the Iranian judiciary.
In a letter to Khamenei requesting clemency, Judiciary Chairman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said: “During recent events, various people, especially young people, committed wrongdoing and crimes as a result of enemy indoctrination and propaganda.
The protests have subsided considerably since the hangings began.
“After thwarting the plans of foreign enemies and anti-revolutionary currents, many of these young people now regret their actions,” Ejei wrote.
Khamenei approved the pardons in honor of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
It would not apply to those “who face charges of spying for foreign agencies, having direct contact with foreign agents, committing intentional murder and injury, (and) committing destruction and arson of state property.”
“Naturally, those who do not express regret for their activities and commit in writing not to repeat those activities will not be pardoned,” deputy judicial chief Sadeq Rahimi said, state media reported.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said this week that at least 100 detained protesters faced possible death sentences.
Amnesty International has criticized the Iranian authorities for what it calls “sham trials designed to intimidate those taking part in the popular uprising that has rocked Iran.”