[1]
https://time.com/5804706/iran-coronavirus/
[2]
https://www.hra-news.org/2020/hranews/a-24081/
[3]
https://bidarzani.com/29836
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Iran’s Political Prisoners are in grave danger by Coronavirus!
March 19, 2020
Amid the global Coronavirus outbreak that has overwhelmed Iran’s health system, the plight of Iran’s prison population is particularly worrisome. In many overcrowded prisons that lack the minimum health standards, the inmates’ safety could be in grave danger. As of March 17, Iran’s state authorities have admitted of almost 1,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 among more than 16,000 confirmed cases; already the highest death toll outside China and Italy. The World Health Organization says the actual figure could be five times higher due to testing being restricted to severe cases. Experts have criticized the Islamic Republic’s leadership for its initial mismanagement of the crisis.
To help contain the spread of the virus and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, family members of many political prisoners have gathered in front of the prisons or judiciary offices and issued letters in early March, calling for the release of all political prisoners until the end of the crisis. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, has also asked Iran’s government to free all political prisoners temporarily from the country’s overcrowded and disease-ridden jails. Following such pressures and growing concerns, Gholam Hossein Ismaili, spokesman for the Islamic Republic's judiciary, announced the temporary release of about 54,000 non-political prisoners on March 5. His directive, however, had excluded political prisoners who have been convicted for more than five years. Even among those sentenced to less than five years, a very few political prisoners have been given leave. On March 9, authorities announced the release of 70,000 prisoners, again none were political detainees. The latest official statement on March 17, claims of temporarily freeing of about 85,000 people from jail. It also claims that half of the “security” [political] prisoners too have been released.
In reality, however, so far, only a couple dozens of political prisoners have been granted leave and in most cases under heavy bails. Moreover, the arrest of more civil rights activists has been continuing even under the current health-crisis. Therefore, along with many well-known political prisoners, such as Zeinab Jalalian who has never been granted a leave, and Narges Mohammadi whose situation is particularly worrisome, hundreds of less-known prisoners of conscience, female and male, including human/women’s rights activists, laborers and labor rights advocates, minorities rights activists, students, teachers, journalists, writers, defense lawyers, and environmentalists remain confined in over 200 prisons in different parts of Iran. Their lives can be easily jeopardized by the fast spreading COVID-19.
In response to the danger of Coronavirus and to draw national and international attention to the urgency of the plight of political prisoners, several of them in the prisons of Evin, Fashafouyeh, Sanandaj, and Urumiyeh went on hunger strike, demanding the immediate release of all political prisoners, at the least, temporarily. The strikers included the prominent defense lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, Rezvaneh Khanbeigi, Reza Mehrgan, Hossein Sarlak, Morteza Nazari, Arya Hamedirad, Reza Ramezanzadeh, Amin Baqerian, Behnoud Esmaili, Saeed Asadi, Vahid Moazez, Soheil Arabi, Abolfazl Karimi, Mustafa Sabzi, Parvin Advayi, and others. As explained by one of the political prisoners, Soheil Arabi, who is among the thousands of working-class prisoners arrested during the bloody crackdown of the 3-day protests against the fuel price rise across Iran in November 2019: While many embezzlers, thieves, … are free, we, who have done nothing illegal or wrong other than protesting against corruption, inept policies, and economic hardship are deliberately kept in jail to die by the Coronavirus.
Echoing the plea of Iran’s political prisoners and their family members, we the undersigned are calling on international human rights organizations and the World Health Organization to demand from the Islamic Republic of Iran the urgent granting of, at the least, a temporary release for all political prisoners. Protection of the safety and provision of health care for all prisoners, political as well as non-political, are obviously among the legal obligations of any state.
Cc: Dr. Rick Brennan, Director of Emergency Operations in the World Health Organization (WHO); Amnesty International; Human Rights Watch; Center for Defenders of Human Rights in Iran; International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran; International Federation for Human Rights; Iran Human Rights Documentation Center; United for Iran; the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR)
_____________________
[1]
https://time.com/5804706/iran-coronavirus/
[2]
https://www.hra-news.org/2020/hranews/a-24081/
[3]
https://bidarzani.com/29836
Signatures:
Abolhasan Azimi, Abbas Anwar Haghighi, Afsaneh Khajavi, Afsaneh Mousavi, Aghdass Shabani, Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Ahmad khoshbaght, Ahmad Purmandi, Aida joudaki, Akbar Mahdi, Alborz Daneshjoo, Ali Akhavan, Ali Banuazizi, Ali Damawandi, Ali fotovvati, Ali Hojat, Ali Reza Poursabagh, Ali Samad, Ali Sattari, Ali Tayefi, Ali Vooryerdi, Ali Yaalimadad, Alison Thorne, Ameneh Rezaii, Amir Haghighi, Amirsasan Sharafi, Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, Asad Seif, Asar Farsi, Asghar Alizadeh Amineh , Asghar Izadi, Asieh Amini, Azad Moradian, Azadeh Davachi, Azadeh Pourzand, Azam Jangravi,Azam Khatam, Azam Niroomand-Rad, Azin Rezaeian,
Bagher Ebrahimzadeh, Bagher Momeni, Bahram Emami, Banafsheh Massoudi, Behrooz Sooren, Behruz Heschmat, Behshid Najafi, Behyar Ghahramani, Behzad Khoshhali, Bigan Eftekhari, Bijan Pirzadeh, Bita Tahbaz,
Catherine Avak, Changiz Pishdadi, Christopher Clark, Dan Cahill, Daniel Johnson, Dariush Arjmandi, Debbie Brennan, Delaram Ali, Des Freedman,
Efat Mahbaz, Ehteram Shadfar, Elahe Amani, Elahe Sadr, Elea Foster, Elnaz Ansari, Emma Wilde Botta, Enayat Katouliy, Esfandiar Tabari, Esmaeil Khataei, Esmail Zargarian, Ezzat Sadeghi,
F.Boghraty, Fabin Hobosco, Farah Kamangar, Farahnaz Mohamadi, Farhad Bokaee, Farhad Khosrokhavar, Farhad Niroumandzadeh, Farid Ashkan, Farideh Sadeqi, Farideh Zebarjad, Farkhondeh Jabarzadegan, Farzad Javaheri, Farzaneh Milani, Farzaneh Raji, Fataneh Abdolhoseini, Fateme Tadjdini, Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Fatemeh Masjedi, Fatemeh Rezaei, Feridoun Babai, Frieda Afary,
G. Repino, Gabriel Tolstoy, Ghazal Moradi, Gholam Khiabany, Giannis Felekis, Giti Adalati, Golnar Rahimi, Golroch Jahangiri,
Hadi Rahimi, Haideh Khorramabadi,Haideh Moghissi, Hamid Hamidi,Hamid Nowzari, Hamid Roshan, Hamid Shirazi, Hamideh Rastkhani, Hamila Nissgilli, Hasan Nayeb Hashem, Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari, Hassan Azad, Hassan Rahi, Hassan Zehtab, Haydeh Rsvesh, Helen Zakipour, Heliya Haq, Hoggat Soltani, Homa Hoodfar,Homa Mahmoudi, Homa Moradi,Homayoun Alizadeh, Hooman Azarkolah, Hormoz Chamanara, Hossein Anwar Haghighi, Hossein Naghipour,
Jack Howard, Jaleh Lackner-Gohari, Jamie Forth, Jamileh Davoudi, Jamshid Khodjoush, Janet Afary, Jason Schulman, Javier Sethness, Joey Ayoub, John Reimann, JST Waardenburg,
Kamal Aras, Kamran Mehrpour, Karin Friend, Kaveh Kermanshahi, Kazem Alamdari, Kevin B. Anderson, Kh Bandari, Khadijeh Moghaddam, Kjumars Jafari, Kn Hiebert, Kobra Salimi Dafsari, Kourosh Parsa,
Ladan Sani, LAM Chi Leung, Leila Asadi, Lila Aslan, Liliy Elikai,
Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, Mahnaz Matin, Mahnaz Parakand, Mahnoush Faryabi, Mahshid Pegahi, Mahvash Dalai, Mahwasch Sallehy, Majid Maleki, Maliehe Mohammadi, Malihe Sharifzadeh, Mandana Zandian, Manijeh Erfani-Far, Mansour Farhang, Mansoureh Shojaee, Marian Carty, Marjan Jalili, Maryam Ahari, Maryam Azimi, Maryam Nouri, Maryam Paydai, Maryam Rahmani, Maryam Satwat, Maryam Zandi, Masoud Molazadeh, Masoud Sadighpour, Masoudeh Miri, Massood Shabafrooz, Mehdi Amini, Mehdi Djamshidi, Mehdi Ebrahimzadeh, Mehrak Kamali, Mehrangiz Kar, Mehrdad Amanat, Mehrdad Darvishpour, Mehrdad Vahabi, Mehri Yalfani, Melody Scherubel, Mersedeh Ghaedi, Michael Pröbsting, Mihan Jazani, Mihan Rusta, Milly Williamson, Mina Khanlarzadeh, Misagh Parsa, Mitra Gousheh, Mitra Mod, Mohammad Reza Shalgooni, Molouk Azizzadeh, Mona Afary, Monica Quirico, Monireh Baradaran, Monireh Kazemi, Morteza Malek,
Nader Hashemi, Nafiseh Mohamadpour, Nahid Jafari,Nahid Mirhaj,Nahid Motie, Nahid Nosrat, Nahid Tavassoli, Nancy Holmstrom, Nasim Basiri, Nasim Roshanaei, Nasrin Fallah, Nasrin Hamidi, Nasser Mohajer, Nasser Rahmaninejad, Nastaran Vahid, Nayereh Tohidi, Nayyer Vahid, Neda Arab,Neda Blourchi, Nehzat Farnoody, Nigel Gibson, Nikolaj Villumsen, Niloofar Beyzaie, Nooshin Tamjidi,Nora Bayani, Nora Räthzel, Nosrat Kashef
Parastoo Alahyari, Parastou Forouhar, Pardis Ghandhari, Pari Djafarzadeh, Parisa Amjadi, Parisa R
Partow Nooriala, Parvaneh Hosseini, Parvaneh Kiai, Parvin Ardalan. Parvin Ebrahimzadeh, Parvin Male, Parviz Hodaee, Pavin shahbazy,Peter Hudis,Philip Gasper, Pourhamzeh,
Rachel Moore, Rahmat Gholami, Rakhshandeh Hosein pour, Raya Fidel, Rayhaneh Jadidfard, Rebin Rahmani, Reza Chitsaz, Reza Chrandabi, Reza FaniYazdi, Reza Goharzad,Reza Reisdana, Rezvan Moghaddam, Roghieh Daneshgari, Rohangiz karachi, Roja Bandarai, Rouhi Shaghaghi, Roya Kashefi, Ruja Moshtagh,
Saba Ghasemi, Sabri Najafi, Saeed Paivandi, Saeed Rahnama, Sahar Sadjadi, Sahebi Sima, Saied Tabrizi, Sanaz Mohsenpour, Sara Farahzadi, Sedigheh Fakhrabadi, Semir Garshasbi, Shabnam Miri, Shaghayegh Kamali, Shaghayegh Vahidi, Shahab Richmond, Shahab Shokoohi,Shahin Navai, Shahla Bahardoost , Shahla Fasihi, Shahla Haeri. Shahla Shafigh, Shahnaz Morattab, Shahrzad Arshadi, Shahrzad Massoudi, Shaida Roostaee, Sharare Shahrokhi, Shirin Ardalan, Shirin Ebadi, Shirindokht Daghighian, Shohre Ghanbari, Shokoufeh Sakhi, Sholeh Irani, Sholeh Shahrokhi, Siamak Mollamohammadi, Sima Mahzari, Simin Roozgard, Sina Zekavat, Sirous Khosravi, Sirus Malakooty, Sofia Sadighpour, Soheila Azadbakht, Soheila Sattari, Sohila Abtehi, Soleyman Khorami, Soossan Zargham, Soraya Chitsaz, Soraya Fallah, Sudi ICWIN,
Tahmoures Yassami, Talat Taghinia, TAM Manijeh, Taraneh Roosta, Thomas Harrison, Behrokh Babaei
