Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has agreed to pardon jailed reformist MP Mr Hossein Loqmanian at the request of the head of the judiciary, state television announced today.
"I accept your proposal and wish you . . . every success," the television quoted a letter from Ayatollah Khamenei as saying.
The announcement followed Parliament Speaker Mr Mehdi Karroubi's declaration in an emotional speech that he would boycott the legislature until the outspoken Mr Loqmanian was freed. MPs cheered Mr Karroubi's speech and the majority of them walked out of the chamber with him.
Mr Loqmanian, a veteran of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war, was imprisoned last month after being convicted of criticising the judiciary in a parliamentary speech.
His imprisonment and efforts to prosecute dozens of other MPs have worsened a bitter dispute between reformers loosely gathered around moderate President Mohammad Khatami and the hardliners, allied to Ayatollah Khamenei, who dominate the judiciary.