In a highly unusual move, Iran temporarily freed tens of thousands of prisoners, including political prisoners, in response to the coronavirus pandemic
DUBAI - Iran has temporarily freed about 85,000 people from jail, including political prisoners, in response to the coronavirus epidemic, a judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday.
Asked whether political prisoners were among those freed, he told a briefing aired by state television: “Yes, about 50% of them were security-related prisoners.”Iran announced the release of 70,000 prisoners on March 9 in response to the virus, but none were political detainees. Rights activists say the Islamic Republic has freed at least a dozen political prisoners in the past few days but that the most prominent political prisoners remain incarcerated.
Many Iranians have ignored calls by the health authorities to stay at home, and shops and restaurants are open. Mass Friday prayers have been cancelled across the country, it said, and the holy Shi’ite Muslim sites and shrines in Mashhad and Qom have been closed. Tehran has urged other countries to back its call for a lifting of U.S. sanctions because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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