A group of political inmates at Tehran's notorious prison of Evin released a statement on Sunday warning about the spread of coronavirus among the prisoners and asking for a temporary leave of absence.
The statement has been signed by inmates in ward 8 of Evin, where generally political prisoners are held.
According to the statement, “the fourth wave of COVID-19 has also struck the Evin prison as two inmates in ward 8 and three prison staff members have been infected.”
Several political prisoners including Baktash Abtin, a member of the Iranian Writers’ Association, have been reported to be infected by the virus in recent days.
“After five days in the prison's non-specialist infirmary, he (Abtin) was returned to a 300-person ward despite his treatment not being completed,” reads the statement, “this would lead to the spread of the infection to others.”
"There is an urgent need for granting immediate temporary leave of absence to control the coronavirus among the inmates,” the statement added.
“It’s the demand of thousands of prisoners' families across the country,” the statement said.
Iranian government is blamed among the population for its incompetence in managing the coronavirus outbreak across the country. While official data shows the total of 64,490 death toll, unofficial reports suggest that some 250,000 people have lost their lives since the beginning of the outbreak.
