Covid-19 Cases on the Rise in Northwest Iran Prison

Iran-HRM – The coronavirus outbreak in Ardabil prison has endangered the lives of prisoners.
A prisoner held at Ardebil Prison who was suspected of having contracted Covid-19 was taken to to the city’s Khomeini Hospital on Wednesday, April 22. Two days earlier, the inmate had been taken to the prison’s clinic with Covid-19 symptoms. But he was only checked for fever and received a few common febrile medications. He was then directly returned to the ward where other inmates are being held.
On Monday, April 20, another prisoner from ward 14, also suspected of having the virus was taken to the hospital due to his deteriorating condition.
Naturally, he should have been quarantined for receiving medical care or taken to the hospital to get tested for the virus, but the authorities did nothing.
Last week eight inmates from the wards 1 and 6 suffering common Covid-19 symptoms, were taken to prison’s clinic. Two of the inmates were only given painkillers despite their critical condition and were returned to their wards, where other prisoners are being held.
Authorities have maintained silence about the spread of the outbreak in this prison and do not report on the conditions of political and ordinary prisoners. Therefore, the lives of many prisoners in this facility is in serious danger of being infected.
As coronavirus sweeps through Iran, with case numbers and death toll surging, the authorities have shown no concern for the lives of prisoners.
There have been reports from various Iranian prisons that inmates suspected of having the virus or even tested positive are frequently sharing cells with those who have not.
The regime refrains from taking the necessary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in prisons, and has been especially harsh toward political prisoners. The regime’s lack of measures resulted in riots in at least eight prisons, to which the regime responded with an iron fist, killing dozens of inmates.
More than 100 inmates of Urmia Central Prison, located in northwest Iran, are infected with the novel coronavirus.
Several inmates in this facility have lost their lives to Covid-19. Four of these victims have been identified as Anvar Ghorbanzadeh, Farigh Mohammadi, Hossein Javadi and Ms. Fatemeh Alizadeh.
On April 12, authorities were forced to finally transfer four inmates in critical condition to a hospital outside of the facility and place them under intensive care. However, they have refused to take further action to test other inmates in this prison or at least adopt preventive measures to avoid a viral surge in Urmia Central Prison.
Four of the seven victims, including Anvar Bagherzadeh, lost their lives on Saturday, April 11. These individuals were in wards 3 and 4 of Urmia Central Prison where more than 500 inmates are held. Despite the fact that COVID-19 has been spreading exponentially in this facility, authorities are constantly denying such reports and refusing to take necessary action.