Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has pardoned or commuted the sentences of nearly 3,000 prisoners following a written request from the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the Iranian news agency Tasnim reported on Friday. The pardons also included sentence reductions and were granted on the occasion of the birthday celebrations for the Islamic prophet Mohammed and the Shia scholar Jafar al-Sadiq. According to the state news agency IRNA, the death penalties of 59 convicts were also converted into prison sentences. Of the total 2,887 pardons, most convictions originated from …