Human rights lawyer Amirsalar Davoudi, sentenced to 30 years, is among Iran political prisoners testing positive for Coronavirus

Coronavirus is spreading among Iran’s political prisoners.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran, citing the prisoners’ families, says labor leaders Esmail Abdi and Jafar Azimzadeh, human rights attorney Amirsalar Davoudi, former MP Fereydoun Ahmadi, and journalist Majid Azarpey are among those who have tested positive.

Monir Abdi, the wife of Esmail Abdi, said 12 activists are infected.

The detainees are in overcrowded and unsanitary prisons, with no separation from the sick, and have been denied medical care.

See also Iran Daily, June 25: The Imprisoned Human Rights Lawyers

Iran’s Health Ministry announced another 188 deaths on Wednesday, raising the official total to 18,988. Official cases increased by 2,510 to 333,699.

Medics, activists, and some Iranian officials have said the actual number is far higher. Medical records given to BBC Persian indicate a death toll of about 42,000 as of July 20. A former member of the National Coronavirus Task Force says actual cases are 20 times the official number, and President Hassan Rouhani, quoting a Parliamentary report, said up to 25 million of Iran’s 84 million population is infected.

See also Iran Official: Coronavirus Cases May Be 20x Higher Than Official Numbers

“Let Him Come Home”

Other political prisoners who are infected include the Christian convert Mohammad Ali Mosibzadeh and Saeed Sharifi, a participant in nationwide protests in January 2018.

As the virus spread across Iran in March, some political detained, such as Anglo-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, were among prisoners released on temporary furlough. However, others including French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah and Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert remain behind bars.

See also Australian Academic Moore-Gilbert Transferred to Infamous Prison

Monir Abdi said the 12 infected detainees are in the prison clinic, six in one room and six in another: “[They] have not been given any particular medications. Only their temperature is being monitored.”

She appealed on behalf of her husband, whom she said is asthmatic and has “breathing difficulties”.

He has become very weak and we are very worried about his food intake.

We want him to be granted furlough or be taken to the hospital. We prefer furlough because the hospitals are full. It’s a dangerous situation. Let him come home; we will keep him in quarantine and take care of him.”

The Free Workers Union of Iran, whose chair Jafar Azimzadeh is among the infected, said 12 of 17 detainees tested positive in Evin Prison’s Ward on August 4:

Given that more than 17 prisoners had symptoms of disease, and the test was performed only on them [the 17], the probability of a higher number of prisoners having contracted the disease in Ward 8 is very high….

It has become clear that the authorities do not give the slightest importance to the prisoners’ lives and health, and by keeping them in prison they are in fact condemning them to the slaughterhouse.