Iran says 22,000 arrested in protests pardoned by top leader
The head of Iran’s judiciary says more than 22,000 people arrested in the recent protests that swept the Islamic Republic have been pardoned
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran announced Monday that the country's supreme leader has pardoned more than 22,000 people arrested in the recent anti-government protests that swept the Islamic Republic. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the mass release.
The statement by Iran's judiciary head Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi offered for the first time a glimpse of the full scope of the government's crackdown that followed the demonstrations over the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by the country's morality police.
It also suggests that Iran's theocracy now feels secure enough to admit the scale of the unrest, which represented one of the most-serious challenges to the establishment since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Tens of thousands also were detained in the purges that followed the revolution.
However, anger still remains in the country as it struggles through the collapse of the nation’s currency, the rial, economic woes, and uncertainty over its ties to the wider world after the collapse of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
