Rouhani: Prisoners’ Furlough to be Extended for Another Month
Iran’s president announced the continuation of prisoners’ furlough until the end of Ordibehesht. Iranian Islamic Republic officials sent 100,000 prisoners on furlough amid the widespread outbreak of coronavirus, but opposed the furlough of political prisoners.
French news agency reported on Sunday, April 19, from Tehran that Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, in a session of the National Coronavirus Combat Headquarters, referring to the judiciary’s approval for prisoners’ furlough, said: “Previously it was planned that the prisoners’ furlough would continue until the end of Farvardin, but with the same previous condition of ours that prisoners whose release would not pose a danger be granted furlough, this release will continue until the end of Ordibehesht as well.”
Rouhani also said that the judiciary has made significant decisions regarding the continuation of prisoners’ furlough.
French news agency reported from Tehran, citing Misan news agency, that Gholamhossein Esmaili, spokesperson for the judiciary, announced the formation of 500 special committees in all judicial districts across the country to review the status of prisoners until the 10th of Ordibehesht, and predicted that a significant portion of prisoners on furlough would not return to prison.
The judiciary’s spokesperson said: “The results of these reviews will be communicated to the prisoner or their guarantor by a maximum of the 10th of Ordibehesht, and we predict that by making maximum use of legal leniencies and the professional and team work of our colleagues, a significant portion of prisoners on furlough will not return to prison, and even some prisoners currently incarcerated may be released from prison.”
Political Prisoners Did Not Receive Furlough
The Islamic Republic of Iran has released many criminals and ordinary prisoners from prison to prevent them from contracting coronavirus, but political prisoners continue to serve their sentences in prison, which has deeply worried the families of political prisoners.
Concurrently with Iran’s president’s remarks about the continuation of prisoners’ furlough, pressure on political and dual-national detainees has intensified. On Sunday, the second hearing session regarding the charges against Fariba Adelkhah, an Iranian-French researcher, was held in Tehran under the presidency of Judge Salavatī.
Also, the lawyer of Narges Mohammadi, spokesperson and vice-president of the Human Rights Defenders Center who has spent approximately seven years in prison, reported last day on the rejection of her client’s furlough and conditional release requests.
Risk of Political Prisoners Contracting Coronavirus
United Nations human rights experts called on Iran to immediately release ideological prisoners, dual nationals, foreign nationals, and all those who have been “arbitrarily” detained.
Additionally, 77 political prisoners from the Pahlavi era recently wrote an open letter to Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights situation in Iran, and called for efforts to preserve the lives and health of political prisoners held in the country. The signatories of this letter asked Javaid Rehman to consider and pursue the release of political prisoners as “a step in the global fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.”
Iran is considered one of the main centers of coronavirus spread. Even Iranian officials themselves do not accept the official coronavirus statistics in Iran. Mohsen Hashemi, the head of Tehran City Council, rejected the official figures regarding coronavirus spread and said that the actual numbers are much higher.
Kianosh Jahanpour, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, in his Sunday report said the number of infected people in the country has reached 82,211. According to the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Health statistics, a total of 5,118 people have died from this respiratory disease in Iran so far.
Source: DW
