UN urges Iran to free political prisoners amid coronavirus outbreak
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran should extend Monday’s temporary release of 70,000 prisoners to include the permanent release of all political prisoners amid the country’s coronavirus outbreak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran said Tuesday.
Javaid Rehman told reporters in Geneva it is “unfortunate and disturbing” to have political prisoners detained amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to Reuters.
“A number of dual and foreign nationals are at real risk if they have not... got it (coronavirus) they are really fearful of the conditions,” Rehman said.
“This is also my worrying concern and therefore I have recommended to the state of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release all prisoners on temporary release,” he said.
“We don’t know what conditions they have been released on: the bail agreement, for how long precisely,” he added.
Rehman criticized Iran's overall handling of the outbreak.
“It has been a rapid expansion. In my estimation, the state has done too little, too late,” he said.
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Iran has “temporarily” released approximately 70,000 prisoners to prevent its jails becoming incubators for the virus.
“The release of the prisoners, to the point where it doesn’t create insecurity in society, will continue,” Iranian judiciary head Ebrahim Raisi said Monday, according to the judiciary’s Mizan news service.
Raessi has authorized the temporary release of prisoners with sentences of up to five years, according to Radio Farda.
However, political prisoners generally receive longer jail sentences and are therefore unlikely to be released.
Activists are deeply concerned about the health of political prisoners, including several duel nationals and foreigners accused of spying.
Among foreign political prisoners 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. Reports on Monday indicated her health has improved, but early indications she may be granted temporarily release have not materialized.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s constituency MP in north-west London urged 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,” Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq tweeted last week.
READ MORE: Hit hard by coronavirus, Iran’s doctors struggle to cope
UN medical experts arrived in Iran last week to help the government tackle the outbreak, which has caused 291 fatalities and more than 8,000 infections as on Tuesday.
Last updated 8:16 pm