TEHRAN (Iran News) – A national campaign for the release of prisoners of unintentional crimes freed 260 financial convicts and debtors, according to the Blood Money Organization.
The campaign, called Eid al-Adha to Eid al-Ghadir, was held from July 21 to 29.
Charities from Alborz, Kordestan, and East Azarbaijan provinces have each contributed the most to this humanitarian event with the release of 18 involuntary prisoners.
A total of 100 billion rials (nearly $2.3 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) has been donated to pay the debt of the inmates.
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 was 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 Ebrahim Raisi made a total of 3.9 billion rials (around $92,000) in contributions to free prisoners of unintentional crimes.
