Reports from sources from various prisons around the country indicate that the Coronavirus has spread to, and is raging out of control in, Greater Tehran (Fashafouyeh), Evin, Gohardasht, Ghezel-Hesar, Central Karaj, Urmia, Shiban-Ahvaz and Kashan prisons.
The regime’s repressive measures, lack of minimum hygiene, and overcrowded prisons have accelerated the spread of the virus, endangering the lives of thousands of prisoners. Based on regime officials’ admission, prisons are overcrowded several times their capacities. Some prisoners sleep on the floor in the wards’ corridors, and next to the toilets. Minimum measures are not taken to prevent the spread of the virus, and prisoners are deprived of masks and disinfectants. In some prisons, such as Ghezel-Hesar, even soap and detergents are unavailable.
In Fashafouyeh, dozens of prisoners are quarantined due to virus infection. Death row political prisoner Amir Hossein Moradi, one of the protesters during the November uprising, is among those infected by the virus. He was taken to hospital but returned a day later to the ward and then to an unknown location. Two infected political prisoners in Shiban-Ahvaz prison have also been quarantined, and there is no information available about their fate.
In Urmia Prison, at least one prisoner has died of the virus and five others have been transferred to the medical centers. Scores of prisoners in Evin, Ghezel-Hesar, and Kashan prisons are infected, but have not been quarantined and are kept among other prisoners.
On February 27, 2020, the state-run news agency, ISNA, reported: “Following … some concerns about the spread of the virus in prisons, the Coronavirus Management Committee in Tehran suggested to the Judiciary that some prisoners in Tehran province should be allowed to go on leave while conforming to the terms of their leave.” Subsequently, the Judiciary Chief Ibrahim Raisi engaged in a publicity stunt by issuing a directive that new prisoners would not be accepted. Nevertheless, the arrival of new prisoners has continued as before.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), again expressed alarm over the spread of the Coronavirus in Iranian prisons and called on the United Nations Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council, and other international human rights organizations to take urgent action to save the lives of the prisoners, and prevent a major humanitarian catastrophe.
#CoronaOutbreak in #Iran Prisons, especially in Fashafouyeh,Gohardasht,Ghezel-Hesar,Central Karaj, Urmia, Shiban-Ahvaz and Kashan@Maryam_Rajavi‘s Call for immediate international action to save the lives of the prisoners#IranProtesters#FreeAllProtestershttps://t.co/ZFrzrcizuO
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) March 2, 2020
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
March 2, 2020