State television reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners on Sunday, including many Iranians arrested during recent protests against the Islamist regime.
The pardon included the release of prisoners and amnesty. Khamenei announced the decision in honour of the anniversary of the 1
However, pardons are not granted to prisoners accused of espionage for foreign authorities or who have direct contact with “foreign agents”. Furthermore, prisoners imprisoned for murder, intentional wounding, vandalism and arson of government property should also not be pardoned. Unfortunately, this does not seem to bring any solace to Olivier Vandecasteele.
According to the human rights organization HRANA, at least 527 demonstrators have been killed in Iran since the protests began in September. More than a hundred demonstrators have been sentenced to death, of whom at least four have been executed. In addition, about 20,000 people were imprisoned.
The trigger for the protests in the country was the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022, in police custody. In addition, the Iranian-Kurdish was arrested by the so-called vice police for violating the Islamic dress code in force in Iran. The protests have plunged political leaders into one of the worst crises in decades.
On Sunday, the Iranian authorities arrested another journalist and sentenced her to prison. It concerns Elnaz Mohammadi, chief of society at the daily newspaper Ham Mihan. Her brother Elaheh, who also wrote for the daily newspaper, has been detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison since early December. Elaheh wrote about the Amini case, which earned him severe persecution. In addition, Hossein Yazdi, editor-in-chief of the political news site Mobin 24, was recently sentenced to one year in prison.
