Iran to free several post-vote detainees

Tehran’s top prosecutor has announced that a number of post-election detainees will be released before the start of the new Iranian year (March 21).

“After Ashura (December 16), we implemented a strict policy. That is to say we were strict with those individuals who insult the establishment’s Islamic nature and sacred concepts,” Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi told reporters on Sunday.

“This strict approach, which was carried out based on a judicial policy made the detainees believe that the consequences are series.

“However, after the people turned-out in large numbers during the February 11 demonstrations we decided to allow them to go free,” he added.

The prosecutor explained that only those detainees’ whose cases had been examined and the charges brought against them were found to be light would be released before the New Year.