Iran`s supreme leader pardons opposition activists

The activists pardoned included novelist and journalist Javad Mahzadeh.

Tehran: An Iranian opposition website is reporting that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pardoned 19 jailed opposition activists on a religious occasion.

The low-level activists released on Thursday were among hundreds detained during the unrest after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad`s disputed re-election in June 2009. Claims of vote fraud set off months of protests that widened into a serious challenge to Iran`s ruling system.

Authorities responded with a massive crackdown and a mass trial of more than 100 opposition activists, leaders and officials from past pro-reform governments.

Friday’s report on the Kaleme website said the opposition supporters pardoned included novelist and journalist Javad Mahzadeh.

Most of the others are not widely known.

PTI

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