More than 1,000 foreign detainees have been provisionally released in Iran in the face of the spread of the new coronavirus, Iranian justice said Tuesday after criticism by UN human rights experts on the subject.
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"What Iran has done in ensuring prisoners' good health and granting them temporary absences is a significant step" compared to what other countries have done, said the spokesman for the Authority. court, Gholamhossein Esmaïli.
Temporary absences granted to more than 100,000 prisoners
Last week, a panel of human rights experts called on Iran to expand its list of detainees on temporary absences to "prisoners of conscience and binationals and foreigners". In response, Esmaïli said the experts should report what "the United States and Britain have done about their prisoners . " "We have granted permission to more than 1,000 foreigners (...) including some nationals of these countries," he added during a press conference, without specifying the conditions of their release.
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According to him, Iran should not be accused of "discriminatory behavior". Since March, the Islamic Republic has granted temporary absences to 100,000 prisoners, who have had their temporary release extended until May 20.
Some of them must wear an electronic bracelet, such as the Iranian-British Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, arrested in 2016 and sentenced to five years in prison for calls to “sedition” . His permission was also extended until May 20, his lawyer said on Tuesday at the official Irna agency.
One of the countries most affected by the pandemic in the world
The Judicial Authority had also announced that about 10,000 detainees were to benefit from a pardon decreed on the occasion of the Iranian New Year (Norouz), to "reduce the number of prisoners, taking into account the sensitive situation in the country" , had then specified Mr. Esmaïli, without explicit reference to the new coronavirus.
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Other binationals imprisoned in Iran, such as the Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah and the Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi and his father, Mohammad Bagher Namazi, are still believed to be detained.
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The Islamic Republic does not recognize dual nationality and has accused foreign governments of interfering in what it considers to be matters relating to its internal affairs.
Iran, struggling to contain the spread of the virus, is one of the countries most affected by the pandemic in the world, with more than 5,200 deaths and more than 83,500 infections officially declared since the announcement of the first cases in February.
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