TEHRAN – In the first six months of the current Iranian year (which began on March 21), a total of 4,597 prisoners of unintentional crimes were released from prison.

The debt of the released prisoners was 180 trillion rials (about 163 million dollars), IRNA reported.

Of the total prisoners released, 4,330 were male and 267 were female.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, allocated 40 billion rials (some $36 million) for releasing prisoners of unintentional crimes.

Currently, there are 17,747 individuals imprisoned for unintentional crimes. These include 16,859 men and 888 women, with a total debt of 750 trillion rials (about 681 million dollars).

Over the past Iranian calendar year (March 2024–March 2025), benefactors contributed to releasing 11,380 prisoners of unintentional crimes in the country. Also, 2,441 prisoners were pardoned during the same period, ISNA reported.

The number of released prisoners has increased by 22 percent compared to the Iranian year 1402 (March 2023 –March 2024). Of the total released prisoners, 682 were female and 10,698 were male, who were incarcerated due to their inability to pay financial debts. The total debt of the released prisoners was over 270 trillion rials (about 270 million dollars).

Tehran, Fars, and Khorasan Razavi provinces ranked first to third with the release of 1,088, 878, and 829 prisoners of involuntary crimes, respectively. Currently, there are 14,591 inmates of unintentional crimes nationwide. Tehran (with 2,536), Fars (with 1,331), and Isfahan (with 1,183) provinces have the highest number of prisoners of involuntary crimes.

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.

MT/MG