Health and Hygiene

CHRI – Reza Khandan, a women’s rights activist and the husband of prominent imprisoned human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, has called on Iranian authorities to release his wife and other prisoners to the extent possible to protect them from contracting the potentially deadly COVID-19 coronavirus in overcrowded prisons and detention centers. “After my detention last year, I was incarcerated with 60 people inside …

LA Times – Like many Iranians scared about contracting the deadly coronavirus, Omid Rahimi has been reading the news, tracking rumors and watching television for updates, which, in these unsettled times, has left him only more confused over what to believe and whom to trust. With fears over a rapidly rising death toll, along with disclosures that a top Iranian …

Radiofarda – The Head of Iran’s Prisons Organization on Wednesday ordered prison wardens to take special measures to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from spreading to prisons. Addressing prison wardens across the country Ali-Asghar Jahangir said prisoners should not be sent to courts unnecessarily and without due coordination. He also said all visits to prisons except for judicial and health officials …

Radiofarda – The implications of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak in Iran for Iranian authorities seem to go far beyond only a national health issue. Officials, including the President himself, now allege that the outbreak has become a propaganda tool in the hands of Iran’s enemies, and first and foremost, the United States to bring the Iranian economy to a standstill. …

Radiofarda – A group of University of Toronto scientists and doctors have published an article offering an estimate that based on Coronavirus cases traveling from Iran to other countries it is statistically possible that 18,000 people are infected in the county. The research results were published on February 24 based on information available until that date. Researchers focused on volume …

Al-Arabia – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said the United States was “deeply concerned” Iran may have covered up details about the spread of coronavirus, and he called on all nations to “tell the truth.” “The United States is deeply concerned by information indicating the Iranian regime may have suppressed vital details about the outbreak in that …

RFL/RE – Iran’s Health Ministry says the number of reported deaths linked to a rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak in the country has increased by four to 19.Ministry spokesman Kianush Dschahanpurat said on February 26 that a total of 139 people — an increase of 44 from the previous day — have tested positive for the virus in various parts of …

VOA – Iran’s growing coronavirus outbreak has triggered more angst in the country, preventing thousands of visiting Pakistanis from returning home and fueling fears of contagion in prisons. At least 5,000 Pakistanis have been stuck in Iran since authorities in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan closed the border with their western neighbor Sunday, according to a provincial government spokesman who …

VOA – Shiite shrines that attract tens of millions of visitors annually have come under focus in Iran as the country grapples with the spread of the coronavirus.   The outbreak of the virus in Iran prompted the government to request the closure of major shrines in cities like Qom, Mashhad and Shiraz, but Iran’s powerful clerics have rejected or ignored …

CHRI – Grave Concerns About the Spread of COVID-19 in Iranian Prisons Hashem Khastar (left) and Mohammad Nourizad (right). Relatives of prisoners of conscience who were imprisoned in Iran after publicly calling on the supreme leader to resign have called on Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi to allow their loved ones to go on furlough (temporary leave) to protect them from contracting the potentially deadly …