Skip to content
Kurdish Centre for Human Rights

Kurdish Centre for Human Rights

Centre Kurde des Droits de l’Homme

  • Home
  • About us
    • Status
    • Activities
  • Reports
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Syria
    • Turkey
  • OHCHR
    • KCHR
  • News
    • Press Releases
    • Women
    • Children
    • Prisons
    • War Crimes
  • Contact
  • IT
    • .
      • Actualités
      • Femmes
  • Toggle search form

HRW calls on Iran to release wrongfully detained prisoners

Posted on March 12, 2020March 14, 2020 By admin

Iran’s prison authorities should facilitate temporary release of all eligible prisoners and the unconditional release of people detained for peaceful dissent, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Human Rights watch said today.

HRW pointed out that: “The virus has spread across Iran and poses a heightened risk in closed institutions. To reduce the risk of further transmission and mortality, authorities should also support “social distancing” measures in the community and ensure that all remaining detainees have access to adequate medical care.”

“The threat of the coronavirus epidemic increases the risk to their health and safety for political prisoners, who should never have been imprisoned in the first place,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Judicial authorities should not waste any time in releasing scores of wrongfully detained prisoners who are still behind bars and granting temporary release to other eligible prisoners.”

Iran is experiencing one of the fastest outbreaks of coronavirus infections outside China, with several reported cases across the country of detainees showing symptoms. The Iranian judiciary news agency, Mizan, announced that the judiciary chief has ordered the temporary release of 70,000 prisoners for the upcoming Persian New Year (Nowruz), which begins on March 20, 2020. Yet dozens of human rights defenders and others sentenced on vaguely defined national security crimes remain in prison. Their families have said they are concerned about the health and safety of their loved ones in detention.

Human Rights Watch has received reports that prisoners have tested positive for coronavirus, including in Evin prison in Tehran and in the cities of Euromieh and Rasht. On February 27, in an open letter, families of 25 prisoners detained for their activism pleaded with judicial officials to release or at least grant temporary release to their loved ones amid the coronavirus outbreak and the lack of sufficient medical care in prisons.

HRW stressed that: “Under international law, prison authorities are obliged to ensure necessary hygiene to prevent disease transmission and essential medical care for all detainees. In cases in which prisoners are suspected of having contagious diseases, states are obligated to provide for their clinical isolation and appropriate treatment.”

“Controlling the coronavirus spread in Iran will require preventing transmission in Iran’s notoriously overcrowded prisons,” Page said. “The government should act immediately to release eligible prisoners and ensure that proper hygiene and care are provided for those who remain.

Iran, News

Post navigation

Previous Post: 25 years later: Victims of Gazi massacre commemorated
Next Post: WHO: Europe is now the epicenter of coronavirus pandemic

More Related Articles

Letter from a child in prison Children
Gökkan: Violence against women increasing in Turkey News
The SOHR reveals medical reports confirming Turkey’s use of internationally prohibited weapons in northern Syria, calls on the international community to investigate and hold officials accountable News
IHD reported 14,000 human rights violations in Izmir News
Kolbar killed by Iranian forces in Eastern Kurdistan Iran
Kurdish teacher threatened with execution in Iran Iran

About us

The Kurdish Center for Human Rights was established in Geneva in 2000, according to the Suisse civil law. In response to the genocide, war crimes and human rights violations occurring across the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria.

The KCHR, as a non-profit organization of social utility, was born from the need to  inform the European and Swiss people and the OHCHR on human rights violations against the Kurds via seminars and other dialogue platforms and to attend their meetings; to establish a dialogue with NGO’s, civil movements, associations, government and civil institutions.. Read More….

Contact

Centre Kurde des Droits de l’Homme
Kurdish Center for Human Rights

15, Rue des Savoises, 1205 Genève – Suisse
Tel :+41 (0)22 328 1984
Email: info@kurd-chr.ch / kurd.chr.geneve@gmail.com
Web : http://www.kurd-chr.ch

Compte : Post Finance – CENTRE KURDE
IBAN: CH40 0900 0000 17763911 5

Recent Posts

  • Earthquakes and Human Rights Violations in Turkey
  • KurdDAO Launches Fundraising Campaign in Support of Kurdish Human Rights
  • REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TURKISH PRISONS
  • Repression Practices Against the Press and Journalists in Turkey
  • Iran must halt imminent execution of Kurdish prisoner – UN experts 

Search

March 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Jan    

Information

  • Earthquakes and Human Rights Violations in Turkey
  • KurdDAO Launches Fundraising Campaign in Support of Kurdish Human Rights
  • REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TURKISH PRISONS
  • Repression Practices Against the Press and Journalists in Turkey
  • Iran must halt imminent execution of Kurdish prisoner – UN experts 

Archives

Copyright © 2023 Kurdish Centre for Human Rights.

Powered by PressBook Green WordPress theme