TEHRAN – Iranian benefactors helped release a total of 14,681 inmates of unintentional crimes across the country over the past Iranian calendar year (March 2020-March 2021), Hadi Sadeghi, an official with the Judiciary, has said.

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. Last year, a total of 35 trillion rials (nearly $833 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) has been donated to pay the debt of the released prisoners.

Last year, provinces of Fars, Yazd, and Isfahan topped the list for releasing the highest number of involuntary crime doers, he further stated, IRIB reported on Tuesday.

As an annual tradition, benefactors come together in a ceremony to raise funds for releasing prisoners of unintentional crimes during the holy month of Ramadan (which started on April 13 this year), through which,

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has donated 5 billion rials (about $120,000).

Last year, heads of the three branches of the government and the private sector donated 6.5 billion rials (nearly $150,000) to release prisoners who had committed involuntary crimes.

Former President Hassan Rouhani, former Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, and former Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi made a total of 3.9 billion rials (around $92,000) in contributions to free prisoners of unintentional crimes.

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