TEHRAN – Over the past two decades, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution, contributed to the continuous release of prisoners of unintentional crimes, allocating a sum of 1.65 billion rials (around 97,000 dollars).

The Leader was martyred on February 28. A week earlier, he donated around 50 billion rials (some $29,000) for the release of the prisoners of involuntary crimes, IRNA quoted Seyyed Asadollah Joulaei, an official with the Blood Money Organization, as saying.

The Blood Money Organization was established in 1990. It has helped to release around 195,000 prisoners of unintentional crimes so far. The late Leader started supporting the organization in 2006. Since spring 2019, each week or two weeks, the Leader would make contributions to the organization.

Interestingly, his donations to the release of prisoners did not stop even after his martyrdom. His office continued supporting the Organization, donating funds on May 5, which indicates the late Leader’s particular support and attention to the release of prisoners. Over roughly 21 years, his contribution led to the release of 344 prisoners, Joulaei further noted.

The Leader allocated funds every year to help free these prisoners, and the amount of these regular contributions gradually increased over time.

Joulaei explained that the Leader’s office would typically notify the organization just minutes before the fundraising ceremony that he had authorized a financial contribution for the charitable initiative.

“This practice continued uninterrupted for nearly two decades. However, on February 21, we received a letter from the Leader’s office informing us that, upon his instruction, 50 billion rials had been transferred to the Headquarters’ account as a donation to secure the release of financially distressed prisoners convicted of unintentional crimes,” he said.

Receiving the letter was unusual because the ceremony was still about a week away, whereas in previous years the Leader’s donation had normally been announced only minutes before the event began.

“Sadly, one week later, the tragic event of the Leader’s martyrdom occurred, and we realized that this contribution had been his final gift before his martyrdom,” he added.

The Leader would consistently laud and encourage the benefactors and the charities to raise and allocate money to help release prisoners of involuntary crimes. He always highlighted that a part of the money raised on the specific occasions, like the fasting month of Ramadan, should be dedicated to freeing prisoners.

The Blood Money Organization, with the help of benefactors, has released 850 prisoners of involuntary crimes in 31 provinces across the country to commemorate the Leader’s martyrdom.

MT/MG