Iran FM: No 'peaceful protesters' arrested during recent riots
Iran's foreign minister has dismissed reports that the Islamic Republic arrested "peaceful protesters" during the months-long riots, stressing that only "trouble makers" were arrested over rioting and violence.
"No one was arrested in autumn’s peaceful protests," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wrote in a tweet on Thursday.
"But when they turned to riot, chaos & violence due to foreign & terrorist interference, trouble makers were arrested. Leader granted amnesty to all but murderers & terrorists."
Stressed in my speech, meetings&interview in Geneva that:“no one was arrested in autumn’s peaceful protests. But when they turned to riot, chaos&violence due to foreign&terrorist interference, trouble makers were arrested. Leader granted amnesty to all but murderers&terrorists”
— H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) March 2, 2023
The riots followed the death in police custody of a young Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini.
Western governments and media seized the opportunity to allege that Amini had died as a result of grievous bodily harm inflicted on her in a police van.
The CCTV footage, however, showed the young woman collapsing after a conversation with a female police officer inside a police station.
Foreign-backed rioters brutally attacked security officers and caused massive damage to public property. Dozens of people and security personnel were killed in the process across the country, including in the capital Tehran.
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, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei pardoned or commuted the sentences of a large number of 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."
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.
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