Al-Arabia – Medical personnel in a hospital in Iran were seen kissing a religious piece of cloth to protect them against coronavirus, according to a video circulating on social media. https://vid.alarabiya.net/2020/04/08/iran0e093c22/iran0e093c22___iran0e093c22_video.mp4 The cloth is from the Imam Reza shrine in Iran’s Shia holy city of Mashhad. Medical staff were seen lining up in the video to kiss the cloth one …

Iran-HRM – A number of prisoners including 50 political prisoners held at Urmia Central Prison have been infected with the coronavirus. The 50 political prisoners were held at ward 15 of the prison. The names of 11 of these prisoners are as follows:1. Behnam Foruzandedel2. Mohammad Hossein Irajnia3. Akbar Kamel4. Omid Afrasiabi5. Ahmad Manuchehri6. Karim Ashrafi7. Hojjat Nouri8. Hamid Moazzam9. …

RFL/RE – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States will lead the world in providing foreign assistance to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus, even as some allies have expressed concerns over Washington’s tactics to acquire equipment for its own needs and its failure to ease sanctions during the pandemic. Pompeo’s comments also come a day after …

Amnesty – Around 36 prisoners in Iran are feared to have been killed by security forces after the use of lethal force to control protests over COVID-19 safety fears, Amnesty International has learned. In recent days, thousands of prisoners in at least eight prisons around the country have staged protests over fears of contracting the coronavirus, sparking deadly responses from …

CHRI – Peaceful prisoner of conscience Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, who was imprisoned in the Iranian city of Mashhad after signing an open letter calling on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to resign, was denied hospital treatment and transferred to solitary confinement without his medication after exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, his brother told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). In an interview with CHRI, …

CHRI – The Center for Human Rights in Iran today published its unofficial Persian translation of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) interim guidance on how to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 in prisons, and made it available online for free use and dissemination in its unaltered form. “Iranian officials should immediately mitigate the risk of prison outbreaks by releasing peaceful individuals who …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – The 12th annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty) provides an assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in 2019 in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It sets out the number of executions in 2019, the trend compared to previous years, the legislative …

kodoom.com – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose own spouse is infected with coronavirus, while announcing the extension of coronavirus-related quarantine in this country, quoted verses of the renowned Iranian poet Saadi in order to inspire unity, solidarity and empathy among people in these difficult circumstances: “The strength of society comes from being able to count on each other. According to Persian …

PayvandNews – This time, medical professionals have gone far to help patients afflicted by the coronavirus, so the least we can do is supporting them and paying tribute to those putting themselves at risk battling against a dangerous enemy which is not even visible. A group of Iranian medical staff helping COVID-9 patients Observed on April 7, World Health Day is the …

Radiofarda — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide Tehran a multibillion-dollar emergency loan it had requested to combat the coronavirus outbreak. The epidemic has further damaged Iran’s economy, already battered by U.S. sanctions that were reimposed after Washington in 2018 withdrew from a landmark deal between Tehran and world powers to curb the …