GENEVA (Reuters): The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran said on Tuesday that he had asked the country to release all prisoners temporarily, saying that it is “unfortunate and disturbing” to have political prisoners detained amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“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,” Javaid Rehman told journalists 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.
Iran on Tuesday reported 54 new deaths from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day toll since the start of the outbreak in the country.
The latest deaths bring the number of those killed by the virus in the Islamic republic to 291, the health ministry’s spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised conference.
He added that 881 new cases had been confirmed, bringing the total infection tally to 8,042.
