Iran prisoners Archives - Iran News Daily

Freed Iranian prisoners: U.S. charges were “baseless”

mahla — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 22:50:34 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) –Mehrdad Moein Ansari and Reza Sarhangpour Kofrani are two of the Iranian freed prisoners who were flown to Doha, Qatar, and then to Tehran on Monday.

In an interview, they expressed happiness over their arrival to the homeland.

They also described their charges as unfounded on which they were detained in the U.S. for more than 800 days and likened them to jokes.

The U.S. government purportedly said that they had tried to avoid sidetracking sanctions and deal a blow to American interests.

“The U.S. judiciary tried to make me exhausted in a bid that I accepted all spurious charges,” one of the freed prisoners said.

Five Iranians who had spent years in U.S. jails were released on Monday in a prisoner swap between Tehran and Washington mediated by Qatar.

“After a successful team effort, five innocent Iranian compatriots in American prisons will be free today and two of them will enter Tehran via Doha,” Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary general of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, wrote on his X account on Monday.

“The High Council for Human Rights, alongside the government and the judiciary, will remain determined to uphold the rights of Iranians abroad,” he added.

The post Freed Iranian prisoners: U.S. charges were “baseless” appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Over 6,300 prisoners of unintentional crimes freed

mahla — Sat, 26 Feb 2022 08:39:41 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – A total of 6,362 inmates of involuntary crimes have been released since the beginning of the current [Iranian calendar] year (March 21, 2021), according to the head of 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.

Some 252 of these released prisoners were female convicts and the rest were male debtors who were incarcerated due to inability to pay financial debts or inability to pay dues (workshop accidents and traffic accidents), Asadollah Joulaei said.

The prisoners had a sum of 3 trillion rials (nearly $111 million) in debt, and more than half of this amount have been forgiven by the plaintiffs, IRNA reported on Friday.

Isfahan’s benefactors released the highest number of inmates amounting to 552 convicts, followed by East Azarbaijan, which released 437 convicts.

Since 1990, more than 150,000 unintentional crime doers who had debts have been freed. Currently, there are 10,680 prisoners of unintentional crimes in the country, of whom 4,673 are eligible for assistance.

14,600 inmates freed last year

Iranian benefactors helped release a total of 14,681 inmates of unintentional crimes across the country over the past Iranian calendar year (March 2020-March 2021), Hadi Sadeghi, an official with the Judiciary, has said.

Last year, a total of 35 trillion rials (nearly $130 million) was donated to pay the debt of the released prisoners.

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 donated 5 billion rials (about $18,000).

Last year, heads of the three branches of the government and the private sector donated 6.5 billion rials (nearly $24,000) to release prisoners who had committed involuntary crimes.

Former President Hassan Rouhani, former Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, and former Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi made a total of 3.9 billion rials (around $14,000) in contributions to free prisoners of unintentional crimes.

The post Over 6,300 prisoners of unintentional crimes freed appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Over 1,200 prisoners of unintentional crimes freed in Ramadan

mahla — Tue, 18 May 2021 09:24:56 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian philanthropists helped release a total of 1,216 inmates of unintentional crimes across the country over the holy month of Ramadan (April 13-May 12), Asadollah Joolaei, head of Blood Money Organization has said.

Some 1,206 male and 10 female prisoners, who were convicts or financial crimes, have been released, he added, IRIB reported on Monday.

A total of 1.5 trillion rials (nearly $35 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) has been donated to pay the debt of the released prisoners, which has grown by 100 percent compared to the same period last year, he explained.

Isfahan province topped the list for the most contributions to release involuntary crime doers, following by two provinces of Kerman and Mazandaran, he said, adding, Isfahan, Gilan, and Tehran, released the highest number of prisoners amounting to 313.

With the support of philanthropists during the holy month of Ramadan, the number of involuntary crimes prisoners has decreased to 4,938, he concluded.

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.

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 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.

The post Over 1,200 prisoners of unintentional crimes freed in Ramadan appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Over 2,000 Convicts in Iran Granted with Leader Clemency

reporter 1222 — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 12:47:15 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei approved a proposal from Iran’s top judge to pardon or commute the prison terms of 2,135 convicts found guilty by various Iranian courts.

The pardon was granted on Wednesday on the occasion of two Muslim festivals, namely Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Ghadeer, which marks the appointment of the first Shiite Imam, Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as his successor.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Hojatoleslam Ebrahim Raeisi had sent a letter to the Leader, proposing a list of convicts deserving clemency.

Article 110 of the Constitution grants the Leader the right to pardon or reduce the sentences of convicts upon a recommendation from the head of the Judiciary.

The clemency, however, does not apply to several types of convicts, including those who have been sentenced for their role in armed struggle against the country, armed or organized drug trafficking, rape, armed robbery, arms smuggling, abduction, bribery, and embezzlement.

The post Over 2,000 Convicts in Iran Granted with Leader Clemency appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Iran, Germany Swap Prisoner

reporter 1222 — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 12:44:14 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Iranian Judiciary says a German prisoner, who was jailed in Iran, has been released and is now back in Germany after an Iranian national detained in the European country returned home on Sunday.

Judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Esmaili told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday, “Unfortunately, an Iranian national, who had been engaged in business activities, was detained in Germany and was about to be extradited to the United States to be prosecuted,” for allegedly violating the US sanctions on Iran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that an Iranian national identified as Ahmad Khalili had been released from detention in Germany and returned home along with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was in the country for the Munich Security Conference.

The Foreign Ministry explained that Khalili had been arrested in Germany at the request of the US on the pretext of violating Washington’s illegal sanctions and had been planned for extradition to the US.

Esmaili noted that Khalili had been released thanks to efforts made by the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the Judiciary.

“We announced [to Germans] our willingness to hand over a German national, who had been handed a jail term of three years because of engaging in unauthorized photography in forbidden locations in exchange for the Iranian citizen,” he added.

The identity of the German nation is not known.

Esmaili noted that Iran had insisted that Khalili should return home first, and the prisoner from Germany would be sent back to his country a day later.

Late last year, Iranian stem cell scientist Dr. Masoud Soleimani returned home following his release from a US jail in a prisoner swap.

Soleimani had been invited by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to lead a research program there but was arrested on arrival and secretly imprisoned without trial by the FBI in October 2018. FBI reportedly arrested him on the charge that he had violated trade sanctions by trying to transfer biological material to Iran.

The post Iran, Germany Swap Prisoner appeared first on Iran News Daily.