Families of Political Prisoners Express Concern Over Coronavirus Outbreak in Prisons
Following the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran, a group of families of political prisoners have called for the release or furlough of imprisoned detainees. The husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh has written that due to the high probability of the virus entering prisons, the lives of inmates are severely at risk.
A group of families of political prisoners have sent a letter to Ebrahim Raisi, the head of Iran’s judiciary, asking him to agree to the release or furlough of prisoners until the end of the coronavirus crisis in the country.
The families of political prisoners wrote in their letter: “We, a group of families of political prisoners, in order to prevent a human catastrophe, are calling for the release or at least acceptable furlough of prisoners until the end of the crisis period.”
According to ISNA, the families of Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, Esmail Abdi, Mohammad Habibi, Narges Mohammadi, Amir Salar Davudi, Farhad Meysami, Royin Atoof, Jafar Azimzadeh, Shahnaz Akbari, Majid Assadi, Atena Daemi, Sam Rajabi, Morad Tahbaz, Niloofar Bayani, Abdolreza Kohpayeh, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Houman Jokkar, Taher Qadiryan, Neda Naji, Mehrdad Mohammadinejad, Mohammad Aboalhassani, Peyman Koushkbaghi, Ares Amiri, Jafar Fadel, and Alireza Golipour have signed this letter.
Yesterday, Sedighe Malekifar, the wife of Hashem Khosravi, a political prisoner in Mashhad, announced that the families of 14 political prisoners in a letter addressed to the head of the judiciary called for the immediate rescue of prisoners from “the danger of coronavirus” through their release or furlough.
These 14 political prisoners are those who recently in an open letter called for Ayatollah Khamenei’s resignation. They are currently held in prisons in Mashhad, Tehran, and Kashan. The letter’s authors have held the judiciary responsible for the consequences of “the spread of this dangerous disease among prisoners.”
On the other hand, Reza Khandan, the husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, wrote in a brief post on Facebook: “The lives of prisoners are severely at risk due to the spread of coronavirus and the high probability of the virus entering prison.”
Mr. Khandan believes the judiciary is responsible for any incident in this regard. Especially since political prisoners are innocent and there is no justification for keeping them in prison. They should all be released.
Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband also states: “Non-political prisoners should be released on bail and guarantee as much as possible until the disease is controlled, and sufficient measures should be implemented to prevent people infected with this virus from entering prisons.”
Source: DW
