It's a day of happiness - and probably relief - for more than 2,200 prisoners in Iran this Sunday.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei commuted their sentences on the occasion of Muslim holidays, official sources said.
The Ayatollah “has granted reduced sentences for 2,272 convicts on the occasion of the festivals of sacrifice and Ghadir”, according to a press release published on his website.
Some of the prisoners were on death row.
According to Mizan Online, the website of the Judicial Authority, 43 of the pardoned prisoners had been sentenced to death and 811 others were released.
Regular collective pardons
The measure was taken on the occasion of Eid al-Adha (“Ghorban” in Persian, the festival of sacrifice celebrated on July 10 this year in Iran), and that of Ghadir, one of the most important for Muslims. Shiites, celebrated on Monday July 18.
For Shia, it was in Ghadir-Khom, Saudi Arabia, that the Prophet Muhammad appointed the first Shia Imam Ali as his successor.
Ali Khamenei grants several collective pardons each year on the occasion of the greatest religious or national holidays on the proposal of the head of the judicial authority.
He announced at the end of April that he wanted to commute the prison sentences of more than 1,500 prisoners on the occasion of Eid el-Fitr, celebrating the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting.
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