Iran’s Police Force Denies Formation of ‘Corona Police’
Three days after the deputy governor and special administrator of Abadan announced the establishment of a ‘Corona Police’ in the city, Iran’s police force issued a statement denying the launch of such a unit.
Khuzestan is among the provinces classified as having a red alert status regarding coronavirus spread, and according to official statistics, the number of coronavirus patients in the province has exceeded twenty thousand.
On Monday, Zein-al-Abedin Mousavi, deputy governor and special administrator of Abadan, stated in a meeting of the coronavirus response headquarters at Abadan’s governorate: “A health police force has been established to deal with COVID-19 patients who do not comply with home quarantine, and in coordination with the judicial system, serious measures will be taken against these individuals.”
He further stated that “according to the guidelines of the Corona Police Committee, health officials, as judicial officers, shall file a complaint against infected individuals who violate quarantine instructions and send it to the prosecutor’s office for legal action. Such action may include monetary fines or forced transfer of the individual to a recovery facility with prevention of exit for 14 days.”
However, on Thursday, June 12, the police force announced in a statement that “to date, no unit called Corona Police has been formed in any province or organizational structure of NAJA.”
The statement emphasized that “any announcement of prohibitions or restrictions outside the decisions announced by the social-security committee of the headquarters lacks legal validity.”
Source: Radio Farda
