Activist Mehdi Mahmoudian was among a group detained for their preparation of lawsuit against Iranian officials over deadly mismanagement of Coronavirus pandemic
UPDATE, DEC 24:
Farnaz Fassihi of The New York Times writes about three of the lawyers and activists detained in Iran over their pursuit of a lawsuit about mismanagement and negligence during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Civil rights activist Mehdi Mahmoudian and attorneys Mostafa Nili and Arash Kaykhosravi, held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, were among nine “health defenders” who were apprehended. Mahmoudian explains:
We were still discussing the complaint and what to do when 15 intelligence agents from the judiciary violently broke into the office and arrested us.
We were held in solitary confinement with no access to lawyers, telephones or family visits for nearly a month in an illegal detention wing of Evin that belongs to the judiciary.
The intelligence squad demanded signatures from seven lawyers and two activists on a statement that they would withdraw the lawsuit. Some agreed and were permitted to leave. Five were arrested, with two later released on bail.
The three remaining detainees are charged with spreading propaganda against the state, disruption of public order, and creation of “an enemy organization” — the human rights group Citizens Rights Protection Association. They could serve up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
At the outset of the pandemic in February, the Supreme Leader’s office withheld information for fear that it would depress turnout at Parliamentary elections. Authorities banned health care workers and doctors from speaking publicly about the actual number of hospitalizations and deaths.
Ayatollah Khamenei subsequently banned vaccines from the US, UK, and France, and Iran’s mass vaccination program was restricted until August 2021’s inauguration of President Ebrahim Raisi, backed by Khamenei and chosen in a managed election.
Mahmoudian was already threatened with a four-year prison sentence over another charge. His “crime” was to ask the public to light a candle in memory of the 176 victims of an Ukrainian Airlines jet downed by the Revolutionary Guards in January 2020.
See also Multinational Warning to Iran Over Downing of Ukraine Passenger Jet
ORIGINAL ENTRY, AUG 23: Iranian lawyers and civil rights activists have been arrested over their preparation of a lawsuit against officials for gross mishandling of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.
The detentions are one of the most striking actions by the new Raisi Government as Iran is in a fifth wave setting records for daily deaths and cases.
See also Coronavirus: Iran’s New Daily Record as Death Toll Passes 100,000
Lawyers Arash Keykhosravi, Mostafa Nili, Leila Heydari, and Mohammad Reza Faghihi and activists Mehdi Mahmoudian and Maryam Afrafaraz were seized on August 14. Their phones and other personal belongings were confiscated without warrants.
Heydari was released the following day.
The group was preparing to sue officials, using Article 34 of the Constitution, over “negligence in carrying out their duties and causing the deaths of thousands of Iranians”.
The Health Ministry reported 684 deaths on Saturday, compared to 112 on June 23. Iran has officially declared more than 102,000 deaths and almost 4.7 million cases.
Containment measures have failed to check the spread of the Delta variant, and regime in-fighting has surged over the Supreme Leader’s ban in January on vaccines made in the US, UK, and France.
Ayatollah Khamenei has stepped back from his edict, and deliveries from the international program Covax have increased. However, less than 4% of Iranians are fully vaccinated.
Jahanpour says the claim of importing of millions of vaccines is bogus and a lie.
https://www.radiofarda.com/a/iran-jahanpour-vaccine-pfizer/31424352.html
Can you explain why other countries – not just Iran – have banned the import of U.S vaccines on safety grounds? https://www.businessinsider.com/johnson-and-johnson-vaccine-side-effects-denmark-bans-blood-clots-2021-5?r=US&IR=T
Varharan,
Big difference in the Danish and Iranian cases.
Denmark suspended *one* US-made vaccine (Johnson and Johnson) pending further examination of “rare blood clots”.
The Supreme Leader banned *all* vaccines from US, UK, and France — including Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca — with no citation of medical evidence. The Revolutionary Guards continue to argue against *all* vaccines from US, UK, and France with the unsupported declaration of “biological” warfare.
S.
He cited “contamination” as the reason. Iran suffered from HIV-contaminated blood in the 1980s: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48596605
Iran also imported gas masks for its soldiers and civilians and they were found to be defective, resulting in thousands of deaths.
You may prefer to ignore it, but vaccines developed in the West have been known to be contaminated: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20456974/
Of course, Ayatollah Khamenei likely did not foresee the issues identified by leading virologists and immunologists regarding the safety, efficacy and durability of novel mRNA-based vaccines. It comes as people criticise the CDC for underreporting the number of breakthrough infections and playing down vaccine injuries/deaths self-reported by VAERS: https://www.govexec.com/management/2021/08/cdc-only-tracks-fraction-breakthrough-covid-19-infections-even-cases-surge/184711/
Varharan,
And where is there any evidence that the “West” sent contaminated bloods in the 1980s to Iran?
Yes, there is a risk with vaccines — as with all medicines — that contamination can occur. You seem to have missed the stories that, with health and safety procedures in place, any instances of contaminated Coronavirus doses have been dealt with quickly.
As for the article re CDC and breakthrough infections — from May 1 — it is now out-of-date. The CDC has published extensive data on breakthrough infections, leading to new guidance on social distancing and masks.
S.
Science Magazine lets slip that mass vaccination/inoculation will lead to the evolution of more resistant variants: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/08/new-sars-cov-2-variants-have-changed-pandemic-what-will-virus-do-next
“COVID-19 treatments may accelerate evolution in chronic patients. In July, researchers in Germany published data on six immunocompromised patients treated with a monoclonal antibody that targeted SARS-CoV-2. In five of them, the virus acquired E484K, a mutation known to help it elude the immune system, and the virus rebounded in all five patients. ”
E484K means that in one of the viral proteins glutamic acid was replaced with lysine at residue 484. The protein became more alkaline at this site.
Varharan,
Again you’re distorting your link — from the article: “The evidence that chronic patients are the source of new variants is circumstantial.”
S.
U.S investigating Moderna vaccine for myocarditis (heart inflamamation) injuries: https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/us-officials-investigating-moderna-vaccine-myocarditis-link-newspaper-says
Varharan/Reza,
Again, put your link in context — from the same article, “The myocarditis side effect of Moderna is ‘extremely rare’ and is ‘still very uncommon,’ the report said.”
S.
[Edited by moderator]
1. 30% of those dying from Covid-19 in Wales have been double vaccinated: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/nearly-30-those-dying-delta-20812363
2. EU looking into new possible side effects of mRNA coronavirus vaccines [from August]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQhdo5x5lX4
3. Vaccine allergy: evidence to consider for COVID-19 vaccines: https://journals.lww.com/co-allergy/Fulltext/2021/08000/Vaccine_allergy__evidence_to_consider_for_COVID_19.14.aspx
“Rare cases of severe allergic reactions after COVID-19 vaccination have been observed, seemingly at a higher frequency than for other vaccines.”
4. Vaccinated people can transmit the virus, with same load, as the unvaccinated: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/evidence-mounts-that-people-with-breakthrough-infections-can-spread-delta-easily
“The virus that grows is just as infectious as that in unvaccinated people, meaning vaccinated people can transmit the virus and infect others.”
5. Highly vaccinated Israel is experiencing a surge in new cases [from August]: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/08/20/1029628471/highly-vaccinated-israel-is-seeing-a-dramatic-surge-in-new-covid-cases-heres-why
“Israel was the first country on Earth to fully vaccinate a majority of its citizens against COVID-19. Now it has one of the world’s highest daily infection rates.”
[Added by moderator: “Here are six lessons learned — and one looming question for the future of the pandemic.”]
6. The potency of vaccine-induced immunity appears to be waning: https://www.ft.com/content/49641651-e10a-45f6-a7cc-8b8c7b7a9710
“A rise in vaccinated people becoming infected with coronavirus has cast doubt over the lasting efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines.”
7. Convergent antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in convalescent and vaccinated individuals: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(21)01042-1
“The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with acquired mutations in epitopes for neutralizing antibodies, including antibody regimens currently authorized for EUA, is a cause for concern.”