Iran says supreme leader pardoned 22,000 arrested in anti-regime protests

Number cited by head of judiciary offers glimpse at scale of crackdown on demonstrations since September, but also suggests regime feels secure in quelling movement

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran announced Monday that the country’s supreme leader has pardoned 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.

The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ejehi as announcing the figure Monday.

Iranian state media had previously suggested Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could pardon that many people swept up in the demonstrations ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when the pious fast from dawn to dusk. Ramadan starts later next week.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks after planting a tree marking National Tree Planting Day, at the courtyard of his office in Tehran, Iran, March 6, 2023. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Ejehi said a total of 82,656 prisoners and those facing charges had been pardoned. Of those, some 22,000 had been arrested amid the demonstrations, he said. Those pardoned had not committed theft or violent crimes, he added.

In February, Iran acknowledged “tens of thousands” had been detained in the protests. Monday’s acknowledgment from Ejehi offered an even higher total than what activists had previously cited.

More than 19,700 people have been arrested during the protests, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been tracking the crackdown.

At least 530 people have been killed as authorities violently suppressed demonstrations, the group said. Iran has not offered a death toll for months.