Iran
An Iranian medic treats a patient infected with the COVID-19 virus at a hospital in Tehran on March 1, 2020. Photo: Koosha Mahsid Falahi/Mizan News Agency/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Over 54,000 prisoners in Iran have been temporarily released as a precautionary measure against the spread of coronavirus, said Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Gholam-Hossein Esmaili at a press conference on Tuesday.
This comes after widespread concern amongst activists in Iran about the spread of coronavirus in prisons.
The prisoners have been furloughed following judiciary instructions to release prisoners on a temporary basis, relayed the spokesperson.
Iraj Harirchi, the head of Iran’s coronavirus task force told reporters on Thursday that he had asked the judiciary to grant leave to certain prisoners to reduce crowding in the prisons and the spread of the virus.
The issuing of custodial sentences has dropped 35% since the judiciary ordered judges across the country last week to refrain from taking more prisoners into custody.
Prisoners with sentences up to five years in length have authorization to be furloughed based on an order by Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raessi, according to Radio Farda.
According to Esmaili, one political prisoner is to be furloughed on Tuesday or Wednesday. However, political prisoners generally receive longer jail sentences longer than five years and are unlikely to be released.
Among foreign political prisoners held in Iranian detention is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual national held on spying charges in Tehran's Evin Prison since 2016.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband issued a statement on Saturday saying she is suspected of having contracted coronavirus while in prison. However, Esmaili denied that she had been affected, saying she is in "good health and yesterday was in contact with her family.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s constituency MP in north-west London urged on Tuesday for the British government to make any temporary release from prison permanent.
"If this furlough happens, the British government have an obligation to make it permanent, and not let her be used as a bargaining chip in the weeks to come," read a tweet from Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq.
Prosecutorial proceedings for detained foreign nationals continue despite coronavirus fears, with two French nationals held on national security charges on trial in Tehran today.
UN medical experts arrived in Iran on Monday to help the government tackle the widespread coronavirus outbreak, with 77 fatalities and more than 2,336 infections.
Thirty-seven people have been detained for hoarding medical equipment, added Esmaili, saying that five million masks and 32 million gloves hoarded have been recovered.
Those found guilty could face the death penalty or between 5-20 years jail.
Iran’s prosecutor general said Monday that anyone found interfering in the health system while the country battles a serious outbreak of coronavirus could be found guilty of sowing “corruption on earth,” which carries the death penalty.
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