Iran: No One Arrested During Peaceful Protests

Friday, 03 March 2023 3:02 AM 

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian

Iran rejects accounts and reports propagated by Western states and media outlets alleging that the Islamic Republic arrested participants in the peaceful protests that took place in the country in autumn. 

"No one was arrested in autumn’s peaceful protests," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wrote in a tweet on Thursday.

The protests followed the death in police custody of a young Iranian woman, named Mahsa Amini.

Western governments and news agencies seized upon the chance to allege that Amini had died as a result of grievous bodily harm inflicted on her in a police van.

In reality, however, as quickly released CCTV footage showed, the young woman of Kurdish dissent collapsed after a conversation with a female police officer inside a police station.

Foreign-backed rioters, nevertheless, soon tried to hijack the protests, brutally attacking security officers and causing massive damage to public property. Dozens of people and security personnel were killed in the riots.

Violent rioters who assembled in front of the Islamic Center of England in north-west London on Sunday faced stiff resistance from the supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran who joined the police to foil the unruly demonstration.

Commenting on the aftermath of the foreign-backed violence, Amir-Abdollahian asserted, "...when they turned to riot, chaos & violence due to foreign & terrorist interference, trouble makers were arrested."

On February 5, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei pardoned or commuted the sentences of a large number of the Iranian prisoners, who had been arrested during the riots.

Ayatollah Khamenei issued the amnesty on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution, which put an end to the ruling of the US-backed Pahlavi regime in the country in 1979, and the birthday anniversary of the first Shia Imam, Imam Ali (AS).

The Iranian top diplomat also referred to the decree, reminding that the Leader's amnesty had covered "all but murderers & terrorists."

UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi has praised Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei for granting amnesty to a large number of Iranian prisoners, including those arrested in the recent foreign-backed riots.

Meeting with Amir-Abdollahian on Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly President Csaba Korosi commended the decree issued by Ayatollah Khamenei, saying the move deserved appreciation.