Iran-HRM – Sepideh Farhan, a civil rights activist held in Evin Prison, has been deprived of leave despite the Coronavirus outbreak and a promise of temporary release made last week by prison authorities.
Her family posted a bail on March 18 to secure her release but Judiciary officials and prison authorities have refused to grant her leave since then.
Civil rights activist, Sepideh Farhan was arrested by security forces during the uprising in late December 2017 and January 2018 and is serving her sentence in Evin Prison. Sepideh Farhan was sentenced to 6 years in prison and 74 lashes by Branch 36 of Tehran’s Court of Appeal. On January 1, 2020, she was detained and transferred to Evin Prison to serve her sentence.
Meanwhile, Saba Kord Afshari and her mother, Raheleh Ahmadi, who are both imprisoned also in the Women’s Ward of Evin Prison are at risk of COVID-19 infection but Judiciary officials have refused to grant them leave despite.
As the infection and death toll of the novel coronavirus continues to mount across Iran, prisons are hit especially badly, as the regime intentionally refrains from providing prisoners with the means to protect themselves against the virus.
The judicial officials have announced that they had temporarily released 70,000 prisoners to contain the virus.
However, none of the political prisoners were among the 70,000 allegedly sent on furlough.
Dozens of political prisoners including Iranian lawyer and human rights advocate, Nasrin Sotoudeh, are on hunger strike to protest keeping political prisoners behind bars while coronavirus is killing thousands in Iran.