Fox News published an interview with an Iranian prisoner, obtained through the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), about Iranian prisoners’ situation amid the coronavirus outbreak across Iran.
According to the reports published by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK), because of the Iranian regime’s cover-up and inaction, the coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 5,950 people as of Tuesday, March 17.
#Iran releases 85,000 inmates as coronavirus sweeps through prisons: ‘we’re all ill’ https://t.co/cjsDH8bGYx #FoxNews @NCRIUS @Iran_Policy @AP @AFP @Reuters @ReutersIran
— Ali Safavi (@amsafavi) March 17, 2020
Calling the Iranian prisons’ situation “beyond the stuff of nightmares,” Fox News writes: “One prisoner, a 42-year-old male by the name of Meqdad, who shared only a first name for fear of retaliation, has been held at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for two years. He said in a call over the weekend obtained by Fox News via the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) that not a single person in the facility appears to be unscathed.”
‘The situation here is that really we’re all ill, we are all having dry cough. We have a fever. There is no test kit for coronavirus or any test kits available. All we can do is try to reach the clinic by pushing and shoving,’ he said. ‘And once there, the guards tell us there is no doctor or that the doctor is not coming, return to your ward or we will use force. If by chance, we happen to find a doctor, all they do is to aim their digital thermometer at us, without even approaching us,” the interview added.
“Meqdad said a number of inmates who contracted coronavirus were transferred to Masih Daneshvari Hospital and simply never came back,” read the article.
While quoting the Iranian prisoner, Meqdad, about the deplorable hygienic condition of the Iranian prisons, Fox News wrote: “‘Hygienic conditions here are awful. Prisoners who are imprisoned for embezzlement or financial fraud have money. They can afford to buy disinfectants for themselves from outside the prison, but others and we, without that kind of money, cannot even buy alcohol to clean our hands; we do not have detergents to wash our hands with,’ he lamented. ‘Prisoners are obliged to procure such products from outside the prison at their own expense, so only those who have money can do so. Those with no money simply have no means.’”
“Moreover, Meqdad – who decried the absolute lack of medicines and professional help even for those with drastic fevers – dismissed the official line that thousands of prisoners were being set free as ‘pure nonsense,’” the article adds.
“‘Only the prisoners who spy on other prisoners were given a furlough and their number does not exceed 10 people. The rest stay here in prisons on different pretexts,’ he continued. ‘It seems that those whom the regime was unable to kill during November uprisings are being liquidated in the prison by coronavirus. They can eliminate whoever they choose, under the guise that the prisoner has contracted coronavirus, and the prisoner is taken away without anyone knowing about his whereabouts,’” Fox News quotes Meqdad.
“Despite impassioned pleas from the likes of Meqdad for outside intervention, on Tuesday Iran International TV reported that the Iranian government this week denied a request from the World Health Organization (WHO) to access Evin prison,” read the article.
While referring to the NCRI’s reports from inside the regime’s prisons, obtained via the MEK’s network, the article reads: “Reports from the anti-regime organization the NCRI suggests that the coronavirus death toll in prisons alone has exceeded 1,000, with the next highest number of the lives lost in the holy province of Qom at around 300, followed by Tehran at 209.”
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, all the governments, except for the Iranian regime, have mobilized all the countries’ resources to help people and control the virus. Yet, the Iranian regime, after days of denying its existence, has been continuing a criminal cover-up and has taken no action to help the victims. Instead, it has increased suppressive measures and declaring an unofficial martial law. These actions, along with the regime’s hoarding of the necessary medical equipment, have resulted in more death and infection and turned Iran into an epicenter of COVID-19.
