TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmayeeli said that the country has released or commuted prison terms of tens of thousands of prisoners in the past 18 months.
Since Judiciary Chief (Ebrahim Rayeesi) took office 18 months ago, nearly 40,000 inmates have been pardoned, half of them freed and the other halfs prison terms commuted, Esmayeeli told reporters in a press conference in Tehran on Tuesday.
He added that earlier this month, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei pardoned or commuted prison terms of a large number of convicts sentenced by various Iranian courts, noting that 2,301 of them were freed, among them 157 security convicts who had been imprisoned for propaganda against the Islamic Republic and participation in unrests in the past few years.
Esmayeeli said that 16 prisoners who were nationals of the Muslim states have also been pardoned.
Ayatollah Khamenei had early November agreed with granting clemency to 3,780 convicts of different Iranian courts.
He issued the approval on Wednesday on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and Imam Jafar Sadeq (AS) the sixth Imam of Shiites.
The pardon was made at the request of the countrys Judiciary Chief Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi.
Irans Constitution grants the Supreme Leader the right to pardon or commute the sentences of convicts upon a recommendation from the head of the judiciary.
The clemency, however, does not apply to all types of convicts, including those who have been found guilty of armed fight against the country, armed or organized drug trafficking, rape, armed robbery, arms smuggling, abduction, bribery and embezzlement.
