Iran pardons, commutes sentences of large number of convicted rioters

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
5 Feb 2023 19:58
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This verdict of clemency was issued in commemoration of a religious holiday.

Iranian woman holding a portrait of Iran's leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei during the National Day against Global Arrogance, November 4, 2022 (Archives)

On Sunday, Iran's leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei approved the request of Judiciary Chief Gholam Hossein Mohseini to pardon or commute the sentences of inmates who were convicted during the recent riots.

This verdict of clemency was issued in commemoration of the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the birth anniversary of Imam Ali.

The prisoners, who were granted clemency, were convicted at courts of common pleas and Islamic Revolution tribunals, the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces, and the State Discretionary Punishment Organization.

This clemency verdict excluded convicts with exceptional charges, including but not restricted to, espionage, collaboration with enemy countries, links to foreign intelligence agencies, homicide, inflicting intentional injury, rape, kidnapping, vandalism of governmental or military sites, smuggling narcotics, armed activity, money laundering, money forgery... etc.

It's traditional for Sayyed Khamenei to allow such verdicts on occasions of religious festivity. The Iranian Constitution grants the leader the authority to pardon or commute a convict's sentence upon the recommendation of the chief of the judiciary. However, not all prisoners are eligible for clemency, such as those convicted of armed assaults on governmental sites, armed or organized drug trafficking, rape, armed robbery, smuggling of weapons, kidnapping, bribery, and embezzlement.

Large-scale riots had erupted in different Iranian provinces since last September following the death of Mahsa Amini.

Mahsa Amini is a young Iranian woman whose case was exploited by several Western media outlets in order to further promote Iranophobia by fabricating lies and making use of her medical condition that led to her death merely for political purposes.

Mainstream and social media outlets were swarmed with trumped-up news, as some media outlets, mostly Western, claimed that an alleged brutal arrest led to her death.

As the riots in Iran turned violent, causing chaos under the pretense of solidarity with Mahsa Amini, the father of the deceased, Amjad Amini, confirmed that the riots held in a number of Iranian provinces, "have nothing" to do with the family and "were not for our sake" in an interview for Tasnim.

The father of Amini explained that the family's only desire was to deal with and "punish" anyone who could have been a reason for his daughter's death.