It's been almost five months since the death of Masa Amani sparked a wave of protests

across Iran.

Amani, known to her family as Gina, was a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died in police custody

in September, after she was detained for allegedly wearing a headscarf improperly.

What started as anger at her death quickly grew into a movement led by young Iranians

who took to the streets to air their wide-ranging grievances against Iran's rulers.

The regime responded with a violent crackdown on protesters.

According to human rights groups, the government killed hundreds of demonstrators and jailed

thousands.

And in December, Iranian authorities began executing people involved in the protests

on charges ranging from assault to murder.

This week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hamani announced that he will pardon or

commute the sentences of tens of thousands of prisoners ahead of Saturday.

That's the 44th anniversary of the country's 1979 revolution.

Human rights advocates say this amnesty is part of a government effort to change the

narrative about the protests.

I think this is a bit of a play to say that, you know, there's nothing going on here

where releasing prisoners now.

Gisoo Nia is a human rights lawyer at the Atlantic Council.

She points out that the release announced this week doesn't cover most of the charges

that many of the jailed protesters actually face, such as espionage, links to foreign

intelligence services, or attacks on government or public sites.

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