Imam Ali KhameneiWorld News

Imam Khamenei grants clemency to Iranian prisoners ahead of Nowruz

Leader grants clemency to Iranian prisoners ahead of Nowruz
The Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei has granted clemency to a number of the country’s prisoners on the occasion of the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, and the Islamic Republic Day.

The Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Monday agreed to a request by Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani to pardon 1,059 prisoners or commute their remaining jail terms.

Nowruz (new day) is the first day of ‘Farvardin’, the first month on the Iranian calendar. The upcoming Iranian calendar year begins on March 21, 2013.

In Iran and many other countries people welcome spring with the ancient Nowruz celebrations which coincide with the astronomical Vernal Equinox Day or the first day of spring.

The International Day of Nowruz was registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on February 23, 2010, and the festivities are now celebrated in many countries as far as the US and Canada.

Also, April 1 marks the 34th anniversary of a referendum in which Iranians voted for the establishment of the Islamic Republic following the collapse of Iran’s despotic monarchy that was backed by the US and its Western allies.

In a two-day referendum staged in late March after the early 1979 victory of the Islamic Revolution, over 98.2 percent of the Iranians voted ‘yes’ to the establishment of an Islamic Republic system.

Since then, the nation annually celebrates Farvardin 12 as the anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, referred to as the Islamic Republic Day.

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