Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei pardoned or commuted the sentences of a large group of Iranian prisoners on Sunday.



Ayatollah Khamenei agreed to pardon or reduce the sentences of 1,849 prisoners eligible for mitigating circumstances, including those found guilty in courts of common pleas and Islamic Revolution tribunals, the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces and the State Discretionary Punishment Organization.

The Leader issued the approval on the occasion of the birthday anniversary of the 12th and last Shiite Imam, Imam Mahdi (AS), and also the Islamic Republic Day.

The Leader�s decision came in response to a letter from Iran's Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raeisi regarding prisoners found eligible for receiving the clemency by the relevant judicial authority.

The 15th day of the lunar calendar month of Sha�aban coincides with the birth anniversary of Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance).

He commands special respect among Shiite Muslims, who believe that he will someday reappear on earth as per divine decree, to establish peace and rid the world of injustice, discrimination, and other instances of evil.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic Day, which falls on April 1 this year, marks the 42nd anniversary of a referendum in which Iranians voted for the establishment of the Islamic Republic following the collapse of an autocratic monarchy that was solidly backed by the US and its Western allies.

In the two-day referendum staged in late March after the 1979 victory of the Islamic Revolution, more than 98.2 percent of Iranians voted 'yes' to the establishment of an Islamic Republic system.

Since then, the nation has annually celebrated the anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, referred to as the Islamic Republic Day.
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