Iran’s Supreme Leader Pardons Tens of Thousands of ‘Convicts’ Including Protesters

Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday pardoned “tens of thousands of convicts” in honor of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, according to the IRNA state news agency. The announcement said that the amnesty and commutations include “the detainees of the recent riots” in Iran. The announcement also said that the “convicts of recent riots will be pardoned or their punishment will be reduced if they did not commit espionage for the benefit of foreigners, did not have direct contact with agents of foreign intelligence services, did not commit murdering or injuring intentionally, did not destruct or burn governmental, military and public facilities, or do not have a private plaintiff. Meanwhile, Iranian reformist politician Mir Hossein Mousavi who has been detained for more than a decade, called over the weekend for a nationwide referendum on whether to write a new constitution for Iran, saying that a system that gives the Supreme Leader the ultimate power is now unsustainable. He said that the new constitution should be written by a constitutional assembly of citizen representatives.