Iran releases thousands of prisoners to fight infection
IRAN said it would temporarily release 54,000 prisoners in an effort to combat the spread of coronavirus but would not say if the jailed British charity worker Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe would be among them.
The move came as Iran’s supreme leader ordered the military to assist in the fight against the deadliest outbreak of Covid-19 outside China and the speaker of parliament announced that at least 23 MPS had been infected.
Health authorities reported 835 new cases of coronavirus and 11 new associated deaths, bringing the official total in the Islamic Republic to 2,336 cases and 77 deaths. Gholamhossein Esmaili, a spokesman for the judiciary, said the prisoners would be granted furlough if they posted bail and tested negative for the virus.
The family of Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe, a British-iranian mother who has been jailed since 2016, earlier said she has symptoms of the virus but has been refused a test by prison authorities.
Mr Esmaili said yesterday that she was “in perfect health”. “Yesterday she talked to her family by phone. There has been news about her recently that was fake news,” he said on state television. Hamid Baeidinejad, Iran’s ambassador to Britain, also cited Mr Esmali saying “one of the prisoners with a security charge will be granted a furlough today or tomorrow to join family,” but it was not clear if that was a reference to Ms Ratcliffe.
On Monday, Richard Ratcliffe, Mrs Zaghari-ratcliffe’s husband, said his wife had still not been tested for coronavirus, despite showing symptoms, and said Iranian officials had lied to the Foreign Office when they said she had tested negative.
He told The Daily Telegraph that his wife had heard nothing about furlough when he spoke to her on Monday and he remained “sceptical” that it would be granted.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday he had put the army on alert to assist medical workers to contain the epidemic.
Health authorities reported 835 new cases of coronavirus and 11 new associated deaths, bringing the official total in the Islamic Republic to 2,336 cases and 77 deaths.