Leader: Anti-corruption fight should continue without reservation
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei hailed Iran’s Judiciary drive against corruption, saying the battle should continue “without negligence.” Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks via a videoconference with officials of Iran’s Judiciary on Saturday on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Ayatollah Mohammad Hossein Beheshti and his companions, who were killed in a bomb attack on the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) in Tehran back in 1981.
Expressing his satisfaction with the Judiciary’s measures over the past year, the Leader said, “The fight against corruption, which has reached its peak in this period, should strongly continue without negligence and on the basis of rights, justice and law, with no encroachment and oppression of innocent people,” according to Press TV.
“The anti-corruption fight [conducted] without connivance and negligence offers hope to the people as financial and economic corruption – like the coronavirus – are very dangerous and highly contagious,” Ayatollah Khamenei stated.
“The only difference between the coronavirus and the corruption virus is that the coronavirus can be removed by washing hands while the only way to deal with the corruption virus is to cut off the corrupt person’s hand,” the Leader added.
“The recent actions of the Judiciary in ‘reviving public rights’ are truly pleasing. Prosecutors must try their best to defend the rights of the people. These rights include prosecuting those who harm the environment and confronting the unnecessary shutdown of manufacturing firms,” the Leader said, according to Tasnim News Agency.
“One of the main duties of the Judiciary Branch is fighting corruption in any form. Fighting corruption should start from the Judiciary in a serious and expert manner. The criteria in fighting corruption should only be the truth, justice and law, and no other considerations,” the Leader emphasized.
Coronavirus outbreak
The Leader warned that the country’s economic problems would worsen if the novel coronavirus spreads unchecked, saying the initial momentum to contain it had since “waned”.
The Islamic Republic has struggled to curb the COVID-19 outbreak since it reported its first cases in the city of Qom in February.
It shut down nonessential businesses, closed schools and canceled public events in March, but the government gradually lifted restrictions from April to try to reopen the country’s economy.
“It is correct to say that something must be done to prevent economic problems caused by the coronavirus,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
“But in the case of negligence and significant spread of the disease, economic problems will increase, too,” he said.
The Iranian rial has plunged to new lows against the US dollar in recent days due to the temporary economy shutdown, border closures and halt in non-oil exports due to coronavirus outbreak in the country, according to analysts.
Iran’s Health Ministry spokeswoman said there had been 2,456 new cases of COVID-19 infection from Friday to Saturday, raising the country’s caseload to 220,180, according to AFP.
Sima Sadat Lari added in televised remarks that 125 of those infected had died during the same period, with overall fatalities reaching 10,364.
“The sacrifice of health workers, efforts by volunteer groups and overall cooperation by the people made Iran one of the world’s successful countries” in controlling the outbreak, Khamenei said.
“But that was early in the (outbreak), and now unfortunately that momentum and effort has waned among some of the people and authorities,” he added.
Official figures have shown a rising trajectory in new confirmed cases since early May, when Iran hit a near two-month low in daily recorded infections.
Iran has refrained from imposing a mandatory lockdown on people to stop the virus’ spread, but has called for mask-wearing to be made compulsory.