Leader Pardons, Commutes Sentences of over 1,000 Inmates

Ayatollah Khamenei made the decision on Saturday based on a request by Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi.

The inmates had been convicted at the country’s court of common pleas and Islamic Revolution tribunals, 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.

Eid al-Mab’ath, which is a public holiday in Iran, is a day when Muslims gather at holy cities and sites to mark the occasion, which falls on the 27th of the month of Rajab on the lunar calendar.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) often retreated to the Hira cave outside the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to pray to God, to reflect on life.

He was nearly 40 on August 10, 610 CE when the angel Gabriel descended and asked him for three times to read the holy Quran revealed to him. Muhammad, who did not know how to read and write, was then able to read in full and began to teach others the holy words of God.

April 1 also marks a historic referendum in which Iranians overwhelmingly voted for the establishment of an Islamic Republic following the overthrow of the monarchy of the US-backed Pahlavi regime.

In the two-day referendum held on March 30-31, 1979, more than 98.2 percent of eligible Iranians voted “yes” to the establishment of an Islamic Republic in the country.