Iran pardons 22,000 arrested protesters

IRAN has pardoned more than 22,000 people arrested in recent anti-government protests, the head of the judiciary has announced.

The declaration, by Gholam-hossein Mohseni-ejei, suggests that the crackdown on protesters who took to the streets after Mahsa Amini died in police custody last September was even wider than previously thought. Mr Ejehi said that in total 82,656 pardons had been issued ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is a traditional time for showing clemency.

The watchdog Human Rights Activists in Iran, had previously recorded 19,700 protest-related arrests since September.

There has been no independent confirmation of the mass release of prisoners and critics suggested that people may have been freed to reduce overcrowding in jails. “When you have a regime in which there is no rule of law, you cannot trust this kind of baseless statistic that the regime proclaims,” Ehsan Hosseinzadeh, an Iranian lawyer told i24 News.

Meanwhile, five unveiled Iranian girls who posted a video of a dance routine for International Women’s Day have apologised on film after they were reportedly arrested. Activists said it appeared to be a coerced apology.