TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Ehsan Foundation, affiliated to the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam, allocated 110 billion rials (nearly $2.6 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) to release prisoners of unintentional crimes.
The foundation also distributed 70,000 food packages to the families of involuntary crime doers, Saeed Soleimani, head of the Foundation said.
Some 1,202 prisoners were released in 27 provinces of the country, he further stated, IRNA reported on Monday.
This year, the Ehsan Foundation held the sixth edition of a campaign to distribute food packages among the coronavirus-affected groups. Through each edition, one million packages are distributed among the underprivileged.
9,398 inmates freed nationwide
Iranian benefactors helped release a total of 9,398 inmates of unintentional crimes across the country over the past Iranian calendar year (March 2020-March 2021), according to the Blood Money Organization.
Freeing prisoners of involuntary crimes is done in three ways; the first way is granting prisoners leave and the second way is providing a number of them with loans to be paid inside the prison.
The third way of assistance is the release of unintentional convicts by paying their debt; last year, a total of 35 trillion rials (nearly $833 million) has been donated to pay the debt of the released prisoners.
Last year, Isfahan province topped the list for releasing the highest number of prisoners amounting to 677 involuntary crime doers, while Sistan-Baluchestan at the bottom of the list.
As an annual tradition, benefactors come together in a ceremony to raise funds for releasing prisoners of unintentional crimes during the holy month of Ramadan (which started on April 13 this year), through which, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has donated 5 billion rials (about $120,000).
Last year, heads of the three branches of the government and the private sector donated 6.5 billion rials (nearly $150,000) to release prisoners who had committed involuntary crimes.
President Hassan Rouhani, former Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, and Former Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raeisi made a total of 3.9 billion rials (around $92,000) in contributions to free prisoners of unintentional crimes.
