Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei is an Iranian cleric and the current Supreme Leader of Iran.

Born 19 has pardoned "tens of thousands" of prisoners, including many who were arrested in recent anti-government protests on security-related charges, state media reported today, as quoted by Reuters.

"Prisoners against whom there are no charges of espionage for the benefit of foreign services, of contact with foreign agents, of the commission of intentional murder and infliction of bodily harm, of the destruction and arson of state property, or in whose cases there is no private prosecutor, will be pardoned ", state media reported.

The pardons were announced on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

According to the activist-linked agency HRANA, some 20,000 people have been arrested in connection with the anti-government protests that erupted after the death of young Mahsa Amini in police custody in September.

More protests at the beginning of the fourth month of discontent in Iran

Ali Khamenei