The anniversary of Iranian Revolution makes the crowded prisons of the regime breathe Teheran. To celebrate the anniversary that brought the ayatollahs to power, led by the Supreme Guide Ruhollah Khomeinihis successor, Ali Khameneigranted the grace to “tens of thousands” of prisoners. And among them, state media report, there are also several protesters jailed during protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Aminithe 22-year-old who died in September while in the custody of the morality police who arrested her for wearing the veil incorrectly.
“Inmates who have not been charged with espionage in favor of foreign agencies, to have direct contacts with foreign agentsto have committed murders voluntarily, to have destroyed state property or to have been sued by a private individual, they will be pardoned”, reports the country’s media. A decision which, however, must not appear as a softening of the government’s grip on internal opposition. It is in fact usual for the regime to decide to free a large number of people on the occasion of anniversaries linked to revolutionary events or important religious holidays.
Evidence of the fact that the hard-fisted strategy remains, for the time being, the only one followed by the Tehran executive are the recent arrests. Like that of the journalist Elnaz Mohammadi. The woman is the sister of Elahe Mohammadi, also a reporter, imprisoned on 29 September after reporting on the funeral of Mahsa Amini. For this she was charged with “propaganda against the system and conspiracy to act against national security”, crimes punishable by death.