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Iran-HRM – Prisoners at risk of Coronavirus infection rebelled in two western Iranian prisons, some managing to escape. Friday night, March 20, 2020, prisoners in the Central Prison of Aligoudarz, in the western province of Lorestan, rebelled and disarmed some of prison guards, attempting to escape.  Clashes ensued between guards and prisoners at risk of Coronavirus infection, extending outside the …

Iran-HRM – Forty political prisoners in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary have started a hunger strike since Monday, March 16, 2020 to protest Judiciary officials’ rejection of granting leaves to political prisoners and prisoners of conscience after the spread of Coronavirus to prisons. Protesting inmates include those arrested in the protests in November 2019. The political prisoners announced their hunger strike in a …

VOA – Iran’s supreme leader refused U.S. assistance Sunday to fight the new coronavirus, citing an unfounded conspiracy theory that the virus could be man-made by America.  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments come as Iran faces crushing U.S. sanctions blocking the country from selling its crude oil and accessing international financial markets.  But while Iranian civilian officials in recent days have …

RFL/RE – Two former detainees released in a prisoner swap between France and Iran have returned to their home countries after each having spent months in confinement.French researcher Roland Marchal arrived in Paris on March 21, with his support group releasing a short statement saying, “Roland has returned.”Meanwhile, Iranian engineer Jallal Rohollahnejad, who is wanted in the United States, arrived …

gatestoneinstitute.org – China has contributed to almost two decades of low inflation and economic growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in all continents. At the same time China has started to develop an appetite for playing big power. The European colonial powers of the Berlin Conference combined their quest for security abroad with democratization …