We are writing to seek your help in maintaining the health and lives of those imprisoned in Iran.

Dear Mr. Javaid Rehman,

Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran,

We are writing to seek your help in maintaining the health and lives of those imprisoned in Iran.

The battle against the invisible and pervasive enemy of the world, the COVID-19 virus, has swept our world and changed its priorities. Currently, the highest priority is to collectively and individually maintain the health and lives of the people. But in Iran, we are witnessing that the regime’s military-security agencies have kept political prisoners in their porisons without any means of protecting their health and lives, against the highly contagious COVID-19 virus. Even in the current situation, suppressing the opponents of their corruption remains their top priority. The witness to this situation is Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, an imprisoned lawyer. Recently, she went on a hunger strike to raise her voice. Ms Sotoudeh wrote: “The same military and intelligence agencies that have impeded the security of our country by imposing hostile militant administrations; they insist on continuing the detention of political prisoners in the current high-risk situation. To spread the virus and cause the deaths of prisoners and their families. All actions show that there are no other decision makers, except for the police and security agencies, and that it was them who threw the country into this situation. It is a national necessity that many of the country’s prisons, including the women’s ward of Evin prison, be closed. It is a national necessity to reconcile with the world to reap the benefits of science and technology to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Since all my legal and judicial correspondence regarding releasing prisoners during this high-risk situation have remained unanswered, I went on hunger strike, as the last resort for a prisoner to reiterate my demands for the release of political prisoners”.

Mr. Javid Rahman,

The signatories of this letter, who have spent part of our lives as political prisoners, request you to call for the release of political prisoners as a step forward in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Nations’ commission on human rights calls on the Iranian government for the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners and the condemnation of the repressive policies of the islamic regime of Iran, which are carried out, using all the organisations and supported by the judiciary system would be a great help in preventing the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus among prisoners.

20th of March 2020

Sincerely yours,

Mohamad Azadgar, Naser Azarafrouz, Bagher Ebrahimzadeh, Mehdi Ebrahimzadeh, Freidon Ahmadi, Josef Ardalan, Mohamad Azami, Reza Akrami, Hesam Emam, Ali Borzoui, Yadolah Baladi, Amir Hossein Behboudi, Sima Behmanesh, Maryam Pourtangestani, Hossen Pourjanaki, Ahmad Pourmandi, Ali pournaghavi, Iraj Taghizadeh, Mehdi Jabari, Hassan Jafari, Reza Joshani, Mohamad Hadadpour, Ismail Khataii, Asghar Khorsand, Behrouz Khalig, Ahmad Khoshbakht, Roghiyeh Daneshgari, Akbar Doustdar, Golam Doustdar, Siavash Dehghan, Naser Rahmani nejad, Farahmand Rokni(Akhavi), Salamat Ranjbar, Hossein Sazvar, Ali Satari, Jamal Sajadi, Faraj Sarkohi, Kiomars Soltanabadi, Hedayat Soltanzadeh, Akbar Souri, Akbar Seif, Bahram Hosseini Shokraii, Majid Adolrahimpour, Nader Ossareh, Reza Azimzadegan, Reza Alamehzadeh, Fatomeh Garavi, Mehdi Fatapour, Asgar Fatahi, Masoud Fathi, Hassan Fakhari, Vajih Ghasemi, Bagher Ghalyaii, Parviz Ghelichkhani, Shahram Ghanbari, Mehdi Kazemi, Esfanyar Karimi, Behzad Karimi, Hassan Golshahi, Ali Larimi, Ahmad Mohamadi, Zargham Mahmoudi, Morteza Mohit, Manouchehr Mokhtari, Ezat Mosalanejad, Behrouz Motalebzadeh, Amir Mombini, Mohamad Reza Mahjourian, Ashraf Mirhashemi, Nahid Nazemi, Hamid Naiemi, Zohreh Naiemi, Davoud Navaian, Parviz Navidi, Iraj Vahedipour, Parvin Vahedipour , Ali Tolou, Mohsen Hormatipour, Atefeh Jafari, Majid Darabeigi - Naghi Hamidian - Farrokh Negahdar - Naghi Aghnia - Mohsen Fumani