Four political prisoners issue statement regarding delay in sending political prisoners on leave
Amirsalar Davoudi, a lawyer at a courthouse and a member of the Central Bar Association, Esmaeil Abdi, a teacher's union activist, Jafar Azimzadeh, a labor rights activist, and Majid Azarpay, a political prisoner in Evin Prison, released a statement reacting to the process of sending political prisoners on leave.
According to the Telegram channel of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, these political prisoners issued this statement on Thursday, March 12, and while referring to the new circular issued by Ebrahim Raisi, the head of the judiciary, regarding the order to issue limited leave for a group of prisoners sentenced to imprisonment, they announced that the very serious and irreparable risks resulting from the delay and prolongation in the administrative and judicial process of sending prisoners on leave, and in particular any obstruction in sending political prisoners on leave, are the responsibility of the two executive and judicial branches and the entire sovereignty of the country.
According to these political prisoners, due to the forced use of shared bathrooms and kitchens by all prisoners in prison, the possibility of rapid transmission of the coronavirus from one person to other prisoners in the same room increases. On the other hand, due to the lack of medical equipment and health facilities, and despite the spread of this virus in Iranian prisons, it is possible at any moment that the death toll from this virus in Iranian prisons will be several times higher than in environments outside prisons.
Another part of the statement states: “We are witnessing serious delays in implementing this directive by the prosecutor and judges supervising the prison, especially in the case of political prisoners.” On Wednesday, March 27, Ebrahim Raisi, the head of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic, issued a new directive ordering limited leave for a group of prisoners sentenced to imprisonment, subject to certain conditions; one of the provisions of the directive states that political prisoners who have been sentenced to more than 5 years on charges of “acting against national security” are exempt from being sent on leave. This is while most political prisoners on the charges have sentences of more than 5 years.
The US State Department has repeatedly and on various occasions condemned the violent confrontations and widespread repression of protesters, the repeated and ongoing violations of the rights of Iranian citizens, and the ongoing cover-ups by the ruling regime in that country.
On Friday, March 29, in a meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike Pompeo said that the Iranian regime is reluctant to provide information about the outbreak of the coronavirus, and "I am concerned that they are hiding important information," given the history of secrecy by officials of the Islamic Republic.
This is the second time that the US Secretary of State has expressed concern about possible cover-up by Iranian officials. Mike Pompeo warned at a press conference at the US State Department on Tuesday, March 26, that the US is concerned about the Islamic Republic's cover-up of the coronavirus outbreak.
The United States had previously announced that it had issued waivers from Iran sanctions, allowing the Central Bank of Iran to conduct financial transfers to send certain humanitarian services.
Source: Voice of America
