DHAKA: The Iranian authorities have pardoned 80 prisoners ahead of president Hassan Rohani’s visit to the United Nations in New York this week.

The Iranian media reported on Monday, says The Straits Times.

In a tentative sign that hardline policies are starting to soften following moderate conservative Rohani’s inauguration last month, the authorities freed prominent human-rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and at least 10 other prisoners last week.

On Monday, judiciary spokesman Mohseni Ejei told a news conference that 80 prisoners had been pardoned, including some arrested over protests that followed the disputed re-election of former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.

Ejei’s comments suggest the total of 80 includes those freed last week in a move seen as intended to dampen Western criticism of Iran’s human rights record ahead of Rohani’s address to the UN General Assembly.

BDST: 2037 HRS, SEPT 23, 2013
RoR/Jck