Numerous prisoners in Iran are to be pardoned on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Another journalist has since been arrested.
According to the state media, Iran’s religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pardoned tens of thousands of prisoners, including many imprisoned because of the anti-government protests. The move came on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, state television announced. The pardons therefore included reduced detention and amnesties.
The state agency IRNA reported that demonstrators arrested during the latest wave of protests were also affected by the decision. However, the Iranian state media does not report independently of the regime in Tehran.
Supreme Spiritual Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “agreed to the pardons and reduced sentences of a large number of those accused or otherwise convicted in connection with recent incidents,” said a statement published on Khamenei’s website on Saturday.
According to the IRNA, the pardons came at the suggestion of the head of justice, Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Edschehi, who had recently taken a hard line against demonstrators.
Judicial authority demands “declaration of repentance”
The pardons are conditional, IRNA said. Among other things, no prisoners who are accused of espionage will be forgiven. Murder, damage or arson to government or military facilities also rule out clemency.
For its part, the judiciary announced on its website Misan Online that those arrested in connection with the protest movement would only be released if they signed a “statement of remorse and a written undertaking not to repeat a similar intentional crime”.
Iran expert Gilda Sahebi called for caution on Twitter. “The pardon for the day of the revolution is not new and now serves as a calming signal to Western governments.” It is not known whether protesters are among the gifted. “The daily violence continues,” emphasized Sahebi.
Report: Sister of a well-known journalist arrested
According to local media reports, the sister of a well-known journalist has been arrested. Elnas Mohammadi, journalist and sister of Elaheh Mohammadi, who has been in prison for months, has been arrested, the Iranian newspaper “Entekhab” reported on Sunday. Elaheh Mohammadi was one of the first journalists in Iran to report on the death of protest icon Jina Mahsa Amini. It was initially unclear why her sister Elnas was also arrested. According to the report, she was arrested at a court summons.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in New York, nearly 100 media workers have been arrested as part of the recent protests. About half of them have since been released on bail. Iran is one of the last places in a press freedom ranking by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Critics accuse the Iranian leadership of putting pressure on the families of imprisoned journalists.
The journalists Elaheh Mohammadi from the newspaper “Hammihan” and her colleague Nilufar Hamedi from the reform newspaper “Shargh” have been in prison since the end of September. The judiciary accuses them of having started the protests as “foreign agents” with their reports and of violating national security. The newspapers deny the allegations.
Iranian reform politician calls for “fundamental change”
One of the most important reform politicians in Iran, the former head of government Mir Hossein Mousavi, called for “fundamental change” in Iran in view of the protests. “Iran and the Iranians need and are ready for fundamental change,” the 80-year-old wrote in a statement published on his website and shared by local media. The main features of such a change have already been mapped out by the “Women-Life-Freedom Movement,” Mousavi explained, referring to the most important slogan of the demonstrators.
According to Mousavi, the protests are based on “interconnected crises”. These are “crises of the economy, environment, society, legitimacy, culture and media”. The well-known reformer considers the current “structure” of the system to be “unsustainable” and therefore proposes a “free and fair referendum” on a possible new constitution.
