Iran frees 22,000 protesters, state media says

Iranian officials have pardoned a total of about 82,000 people, Iranian state media reported Monday. Of those freed, more than 22,000 had participated in nationwide protests last year, state media reported. The protests were largely triggered by the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was in police custody for wearing her headscarf incorrectly. Iranian police had responded with a crackdown, detaining what the state had described in February as “tens of thousands” of protesters. It’s unclear how many of those detained had been formally charged. More than 500 people were killed as police violently suppressed the protests, according to a Human Rights Activists News Agency report. 

Did they figure out who poisoned the schools? Iranian officials arrested more than 100 people in connection with the suspected poisoning of schoolgirls across Iran, state media reported. Hundreds of schoolgirls have been hospitalized since the potential poisonings started in November. Iranian officials have condemned the poisonings.

Dig deeper: Read A.S. Ibrahim’s column in WORLD Opinions about how the Iranian regime has intimidated protesters.