Health and Hygiene

Radiofarda – Mohsen Haji-Mirzai, Iran’s Minister of Education, said on Monday that students will start school in all areas around the nation except for those designated as “red zones” as recently as Saturday. Currently, 12 out of 31 provinces of the country are considered COVID-19 hotspots and categorized as red zones. In a press conference, Haji-Mirzai also pointed out that …

Radiofarda – The husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent lawyer and human rights activist who is on hunger strike at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, said Thursday her health has badly deteriorated after seventeen days of refusing food. Ms. Sotoudeh went on a hunger strike on August 11 to protest the “unfair” and “illegal” conditions of political prisoners in Iran and …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s death toll from the novel coronavirus rose by 119 to 21,020, the health ministry’s spokeswoman told state TV on Wednesday, with the total number of identified cases rising to 365,606.Sima Sadat Lari said that 2,243 new cases were identified in the past 24 hours in Iran, rising from 2,213 a day earlier. Read the latest updates in …

Al-Arabia – The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Iran reached 20,643 on Sunday, with 141 deaths in the past 24 hours, a health ministry official said. The total number of infections reached 358,905, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported, citing health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari. Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section. Lari said more …

Iran-HRM – Infected labor activist Jafar Azimzadeh has started a hunger strike since Sunday August 16, after being transferred from Evin Prison to Gohardasht Prison (Rajai Shahr) in Karaj instead of a hospital. Mr. Azimzadeh contracted the corona virus while in Evin Prison. After a clinic doctor diagnosed that he was an emergency case, prison authorities transferred him out of …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s death toll from the novel coronavirus had passed the 20,000 mark and confirmed infections passed 302,000, Tehran announced Wednesday, as the government’s pandemic policies continue to spark public criticism. In a videoconference briefing, spokesperson for Iran’s Health Ministry Sima Sadat Laari said that transmission of the illness is at alarming levels in 26 out of 31 provinces. She also claimed virus has been found to be …

CHRI – Imprisoned human rights attorney Payam Derafshan is in poor health and in need of hospitalization, his lawyer Saeed Dehghan informed the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on August 17, 2020. Denial of proper medical care is routine in Iran’s prisons, especially in the case of political prisoners, including in “life-threatening situations” according to UN experts. On June 8, 2020, …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Concern for the condition of Farhad Salmanpour, a civil activist locked up with prisoners convicted of serious violent crimes while having a lung infection amidst the spread of COVID-19 at Fashafuye Prison (Greater Tehran Penitentiary). According to Iran Human Rights, Farhad Salmanpour Zahir, a civil activist who was recently transferred to the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, …

Radiofarda – An ultraconservative member of Iranian parliament’s presidium, Hossein-Ali Haji Deligani says 450,000 abortions are performed annually in Iran because of the “cultural damage” cyberspace has inflicted on Iran. Haji Deligani, who is also a member of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, also insisted on Friday, August 14, that the widespread presence of foreigners on Iranian cyberspace has caused …

Radiofarda – Dr. Alireza Zali, the head of the Tehran Coronavirus Combat Taskforce, has admitted for the first time that the escalation of the COVID-19 in Iran over recent months was caused by a “strategic mistake” on the parts of the government and health authorities. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Dr. Zali said that holding the people solely responsible for …