News - Middle East: Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has pardoned or commuted the sentences of a large number of Iranian prisoners arrested during the recent foreign-backed riots in the country.

Sayyed Khamenei Sunday agreed to a request by Iran's Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei to pardon or reduce the sentences of inmates subject to mitigating circumstances. 
 
Ayatollah Khamenei issued the approval on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution, which put an end to the ruling of the US-backed Pahlavi regime in the country in 1979, and the birthday anniversary of the first Shia Imam, Imam Ali (AS). 

The prisoners, who were granted clemency, had had their verdicts issued at courts of common pleas and Islamic Revolution tribunals, the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces, and the State Discretionary Punishment Organization.

The official amnesty request was approved in line with the implementation of the 11th paragraph of the Constitution’s Article 110, which grants Sayyed Khamenei the right to pardon or reduce the sentences of convicts upon a recommendation from the head of the Judiciary.

Sayyed Khamenei regularly issues such verdicts on the occasion of religious festivities.