A group of prisoners in Evin Prison request the authorities of the Islamic Republic: The situation in the prisons should be "seriously addressed"

A group of prisoners imprisoned in Ward 8 of Evin Prison have issued a statement demanding "immediate and urgent granting of special leave for the coronavirus" as the fourth wave of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran begins and the virus spreads in Iranian prisons.

According to news published on social media, these prisoners, who are said to include some foreign nationals, issued this statement on Sunday, April 12, noting that at least two prisoners in Ward 8 of Evin Prison and three prison staff members had contracted the coronavirus, calling on the authorities to seriously address the situation in the prisons.

Part of the statement reads: "We, the prisoners, including political, financial, etc., and even foreign nationals, in Ward 8 of Evin Prison, in light of the dangerous situation that has arisen and in line with the strict orders of the Coronavirus Task Force, which has banned any gathering, insist on the need to immediately grant special coronavirus leave to all prisoners, and we consider this action to be one of the demands of the families of thousands of prisoners across the country."

Previously, Voice of America had posted a text on Twitter stating that Bektash Abtin, a member of the Iranian Writers' Association who is serving his sentence in Ward 8 of Evin Prison, was hospitalized in Evin Hospital on April 5 due to contracting the coronavirus and worsening symptoms.

It is said that after five days in the prison's health center, Mr. Abtin was returned to the ranks of prisoners despite not completing his treatment.

The signatories of this statement, while warning the authorities of the Islamic Republic to prevent any untoward incident from occurring in prisons, demand that thousands of prisoners across the country be granted leave who are "forced to live together in groups and in very close proximity to each other."

It was in early March 2019 that, with the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus in Iran, a new circular issued by Ebrahim Raisi, the head of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic, began the release of political and ideological prisoners from Iranian prisons. One of the provisions of the circular stated that political prisoners who have been sentenced to more than five years in prison on charges of “acting against national security” “are exempt from being sent on leave.” This is despite the fact that most political prisoners on such charges have sentences of more than five years.

The issuance of this directive was met with reactions from political prisoners and some human rights activists. Previously, the Abdolrahman Boroumand Foundation, in a detailed report on Iranian prisons, a copy of which was provided to Voice of America, had also warned about the situation of political and ideological prisoners and the judicial authorities' refusal to grant them leave and health facilities, and had pointed out unjustified arrests, including the arrest of "a person who was detained in Tabriz prison for about two weeks for buying a stolen mobile phone and was sent to the hospital in early April with symptoms of the coronavirus and died there."