Iran grants amnesty to thousands of convicts

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has approved pardons or reduced sentences for a number of convicts.

According to the Iranian media, Khamenei accepted a request from Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei for amnesty, sentence mitigation, or substitution of harsher penalties with lighter ones for 2,108 prisoners, Caliber.Az reports.

Mohseni Ejei submitted the request in a letter to the Supreme Leader on the occasion of Sha'baniyyah and the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution’s victory.

Shaʿbaniyyah refers to Shaʿban, the eighth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, positioned between Rajab and Ramadan and observed by Muslims worldwide as a time of spiritual preparation and heightened worship before Ramadan.

Shaʿban’s name is traditionally understood to come from an Arabic root meaning “to disperse,” reflecting how pre‑Islamic tribes would spread out in search of water, and now symbolising a period when spiritual deeds and devotion expand ahead of the sacred fasting month.

Its most notable observance is the 15th night (Mid‑Sha’ban or Shab‑e‑Barat), regarded by many believers as a night of forgiveness and mercy, when Muslims engage in extra prayers and seek repentance.

By Jeyhun Aghazada