UN urges Iran to free prisoners amid fears of virus disaster

TEHRAN - The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran said on Tuesday he had asked Tehran to free all prisoners temporarily, saying it is "unfortunate and disturbing" to continue holding political prisoners amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Iran's judiciary chief said on Monday it had temporarily freed about 70,000 prisoners to help stem the spread of the coronavirus in jails as officials reported hundreds of new infections and dozens more deaths across the country. But UN rapporteur Javaid Rehman said only those serving sentences of less than 5 years had been freed, while political prisoners and others charged with heavier sentences linked to their participation in protest marches remained in jail.

"A number of dual and foreign nationals are at real risk if they have not...got it (coronavirus) they are really fearful of the conditions," Rehman told a press briefing in Geneva.

"This is also my worrying concern and therefore I have recommended to the state of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release all prisoners on temporary release...," he said. It was not immediately clear whether he meant all prisoners in the country or all political prisoners who remained in jail.

Rehman also described the pace of the spread of the virus within Iran as "highly disturbing" and criticised containment measures carried out by the authorities.

"In my estimation the state has done too little and too late," he said, in response to a question about Iran's handling of the outbreak.

Rehman's comments came amid fears of a disastrous viral outbreak in Iran's overcrowded and underfunded prisons, where several European and American citizens are being held on dubious and widely criticised charges. They were added to the chorus of activists and politicians criticising the Islamic Repubilc for its lacklustre response to the viral epidemic, as experts fear the Shiite theocracy is under-reporting the number of cases.

Tehran meanwhile said it would recognize doctors and nurses who die combating the coronavirus as “martyrs” like slain soldiers, the country's supreme leader announced Tuesday as the outbreak killed 54 more people and pushed the nation's death toll to 291. Those figures represented an 18% increase in deaths from the day before, whole there was also a 12% rise in confirmed coronavirus cases.

The families of martyrs, typically from the security services and armed forces, receive payments and benefits from the state. It also bestows a sense of religious importance on those fighting the virus. The decision by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei comes alongside a propaganda campaign trying to compare the fight against the virus to Iran's long, bloody 1980s war with Iraq.

Authorities are also trying to push blame for the outbreak on Washington, claiming US sanctions on Iran have affected medical supplies and are leading to a higher number of deaths. The US says that it offered to help Iran manage the outbreak but Tehran refused.

The rising casualty figures each day in Iran suggest the fight against the new coronavirus is far from over.

A rumor circulating in Iran that alcohol can treat coronavirus has so far led to 37 deaths and sent 270 people to the hospital after being poisoned by bootleg alcohol, the state-run IRNA news agency said Tuesday. Alcoholic beverages are illegal in Iran, but homemade brews in the southern city of Ahvaz apparently substituted toxic methanol for ethanol and used bleach to mask the color, Health Ministry official Ali Ehsanpour said.

The Health Ministry also warned that casualty figures in Iran likely will continue to rise before the Persian New Year, Nowruz, on March 20. It urged people to limit their travel, which already has been difficult for police manning checkpoints on roads between major cities. Despite the large number of virus cases and the upcoming public holiday, Iran has yet to take widespread quarantine decisions like China and Italy.

Iran Air said Tuesday it would resume flights to Europe, lifting a two-day suspension apparently linked to a ban on the carrier's planes entering European airspace.

"All flights will be resumed except to Vienna, Stockholm and Gothenburg, which have stopped flights due to the coronavirus outbreak," it said in a statement. The national carrier had suspended flights to Europe on Sunday, citing European "restrictions" imposed for "unknown reasons", without mentioning the coronavirus epidemic.

Across the Mideast, over 8,600 people have contracted the virus and the COVID-19 illness it causes. The majority come from hard-hit Iran, which has one of the world's worst death tolls outside of China, the epicenter of the outbreak.

The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. In mainland China, more than 80,000 people have been diagnosed and over 58,000 have so far recovered.