TEHRAN -- Iran’s Judiciary chief on Wednesday announced that a total of 88,000 individuals arrested during last year’s riots have been pardoned under an amnesty granted by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei said that the Judiciary separated the cases of “repentant individuals” from those of the rioters, and granted amnesty to them as per the Supreme Leader’s proposal.
The unrest of the past year was to a large extent instigated by foreign elements, but some individuals also took to the streets without being affiliated with foreign agents, he pointed out.
In addition to these cases, some people have received other forms of “legal pardons,” including with respect to their pecuniary punishment, the Judiciary chief said, adding that a total of 88,000 people have been granted amnesty.
The unrest that took place last fall was triggered by the death of a young Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, who died in hospital on September 16, days after she collapsed in a police station in Tehran.
Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization concluded in a report back then that Amini’s death was caused by prior illness rather than blows to the head, as some had alleged without any evidence.
The protests were peaceful at first, but soon turned violent in several cities, with some rioters fatally attacking security forces and engaging in acts of vandalism against public property.