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UN urges Tehran to free political prisoners amid Coronavirus outbreak

UN urges Tehran to free political prisoners amid Coronavirus outbreak
posted onMarch 11, 2020
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The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran said on Tuesday they had requested from Iran to free all political prisoners temporarily, Reuters reported.

A source in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed to Avatoday late on Monday that 156 patients with Coronavirus died across Iran in past 24 hours.

“156 patients with Coronavirus died in the last 24 hours,” he said adding that some 2,000 new cases were also documented in this short period of time.

Families of prisoners have made the same request several weeks ago.

“There have been more than 6,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Iran, making it the fourth most affected country after China, South Korea and Italy,” Reuters referred to data provided by World Health Organization.

Iran claimed on Monday authorities had temporarily freed about 70,000 prisoners. 

“But U.N. rapporteur Javaid Rehman said only those serving sentences of less than five years had been freed while political prisoners and others charged with heavier sentences linked to their participation in protest marches remained in jail,” Reuters said.