Social activists' letter to Michelle Bachelet: Do something to contain Corona in Iran

Social activists, trade unions, and artists have written a letter to Michelle Bachelet and several other international officials, urging them to take action to contain the coronavirus in Iran, otherwise "we will witness a horrific mass death in Iran."

Ten social and trade union activists have written a letter to Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and several other international officials, urging them to “take serious action as soon as possible to control and contain the spread of the coronavirus in Iran, including requiring the import of the necessary amount of vaccines and vaccinating every Iranian.”

The authors of this letter, referring to the high number of infections and deaths due to Corona, considered the ban on the import of American and British vaccines by the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, as one of the reasons for this, and wrote: "Unfortunately, the announcement of the ban on the import of vaccines from America and England by the Leader of the System on January 9, 2020, led to the epidemic and spread of this disease in Iran and an increase in mortality, instead of following the global policy of controlling Corona through vaccines."

The letter also mentions holding religious ceremonies without observing health protocols and predicts that the number of infections and deaths will increase in the coming weeks.

The authors of this letter have called the news and information announced by the Islamic Republic's officials "false and deceptive" and "among the reasons for their failure and incompetence in containing the spread of the coronavirus and the increase in deaths in Iran." For example, they refer to Abdolnaser Hemmati's statements about the lack of vaccine imports due to sanctions, which COVAX officially denied.

The signatories of this letter have officially stated that in their view, “the statistics of deaths due to coronavirus announced by the government are not correct.” They also wrote that the vaccination method in Iran is not correct and “not only have the necessary and sufficient measures not been taken to contain the coronavirus, but by ignoring the issue of vaccination and promoting widespread and collective religious ceremonies, a policy is being prepared to infect and kill more people.”

At the end of the letter, the international community is asked to take the necessary measures to contain the coronavirus in Iran as soon as possible, "otherwise we will be exposed to a horrific mass death in Iran."

Shahnaz Akmali (Dadkhah's mother), Esmaeil Bakhshi (labor union activist), Jafar Panahi (director), Mohammad Habibi (teachers union activist), Mohammad Rasoulof (director), Mohammad Seifzadeh (human rights lawyer), Jafar Azimzadeh (labor union activist), Akram Niqabi (Dadkhah's mother), Mohammad Nourizad (documentary maker), and Narges Mohammadi (human rights defender) are the signatories of this letter.

Source: DW