Iran's supreme leader pardons opposition activists

An Iranian opposition website is reporting that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pardoned 19 jailed opposition activists on a religious occasion, AP reported.

The low-level activists released Thursday were among hundreds detained during the unrest after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June 2009. Claims of vote fraud set off months of protests that widened into a serious challenge to Iran's ruling system.

Authorities responded with a massive crackdown and a mass trial of more than 100 opposition activists, leaders and officials from past pro-reform governments.

Friday's report on the Kaleme website said the opposition supporters pardoned included novelist and journalist Javad Mahzadeh. Most of the others are not widely known.