Ayatollah Khamenei granted the clemency on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in response to a letter from Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi who had demanded amnesty for a large group of eligible convicts.
Those granted clemency through the Leader’s approval had been convicted at the country’s public and Islamic Revolution courts, the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces, and the State Discretionary Punishment Organization.
Article 110 of the Constitution grants the country’s Leader the right to pardon or reduce 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 sentenced for their role in armed struggle against the country, armed or organized drug trafficking, rape, armed robbery, arms smuggling, abduction, bribery and embezzlement, fraud, counterfeiting of banknotes and coins, money laundering, sabotaging the country’s economic system, smuggling of alcoholic beverages, as well as organized or professional smuggling of goods and foreign currencies.
Each year in February, when Iran marks the victory anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei grants an amnesty for a number of prisoners.
On Wednesday, Iran will mark the 42nd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which put an end to the monarchical rule of the US-backed Pahlavi regime.
