IRANIAN Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pardoned 22,000 people arrested during recent anti-government protests, the head of the judiciary announced today.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the statement by Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, though it gave a glimpse of the size of the crackdown on demonstrations against last September’s death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Ms Amini died soon after being detained by the so-called morality police for allegedly infringing Iran’s strict dress code for women.

Iranian state media had previously suggested that Ayatollah Khamenei could issue the pardons in the run-up to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next week.

Mr Ejehi said that an overall total of 82,656 prisoners and people facing charges had been pardoned. Of them, some 22,000 had been arrested during the protests.

Those pardoned had not committed theft or violent crimes, he added.

Mr Ejehi’s figure was even higher than what activists had previously cited.

Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group tracking the crackdown, had spoken of more than 19,700 people being arrested during the protests.

At least 530 people are thought to have been killed, the group said. Iranian authorities have not provided a death toll.

The announcement also came ahead of Nowruz, the Persian new year, which will be celebrated next week.

On Tuesday, some in Iran also mark a nearly 4,000-year-old Persian tradition known as the Festival of Fire, which is linked to the Zoroastrian religion.

A number of activists have called for anti-government protests around both events.

Mass demonstrations have died down in recent weeks, although there are reports of nightly chants against the government in some districts of the capital Tehran.