Iran's Judiciary Plans Amnesty for Jailed Students

Reuters, ABC News:

Iran's judiciary said on Tuesday it would ask Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to pardon 18 pro-reform students arrested during protests in previous years. Scores of student activists were arrested in pro-democracy protests in the past six years but only some have been kept in jail for more than a few months. READ MORE

Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi announced plans to release jailed students earlier this year and asked the government to provide a list of those behind bars.

Justice Minister Jamal Karimirad told a news conference 18 names had so far been provided. "The head of the judiciary is going to ask the Supreme Leader to pardon them under a special amnesty case."

Karimirad did not say if the list included high-profile students such as Ahamad Batebi, who was arrested in 1999 after being photographed holding up a blood-stained shirt of a friend during a student protest.

Batebi was given a death sentence for endangering national security, but that was reduced to 10 years in prison on appeal.