Iranian prisoners fear transfer to ward that held coronavirus victim

Anoosheh Ashoori, a British-Iranian citizen, is among those who may be forced to movePrisoners in Iran’s Evin prison, including a British-Iranian dual national, are protesting against plans for them to be transferred to a ward that they believe previously held a coronavirus victim.Sherry Ashoori, whose dual national husband, Anoosheh Ashoori, 65, was jailed by the Iranian authorities for 12 years, said she has contacted the Foreign Office to warn them of the plans to transfer her husband and others to the prison’s ward 4.He has told his wife he and other prisoners in ward 12 are refusing to be moved, but know they may be forced to do so. As many as three prisoners held in ward 4 are suspected of having contracted Covid-19.The FCO told her they were investigating, and the UK ambassador in Tehran, Robert Macaire, has been informed but there has been no official independent confirmation of the prisoners’ claims.Richard Ratcliffe – whose wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed in Evin for five years – also expressed his concern over a possible transfer. “We are hoping the reports are not true,” he said.“This highlights what a precarious position Nazanin and all the other prisoners are in – and the terrifying situation the whole country finds itself in due to lack of medicines, lack of management, and most of all a lack of transparency.”“The Foreign Office asked us on Friday what message we wanted them to give to the Iranian authorities – it was going to be that the complacency with ordinary lives needs to end. Perhaps now it is [time] to work together to keep people safe. Those conversations about potential humanitarian supplies suddenly feel a lot more pressing.”Sherry Ashoori said the inmates’ fears were prompted when a bus dropping off prisoners at various sites in Tehran stopped at the Taleqani hospital to leave a patient. A prison guard who had been chained to the inmate was heard protesting that he had not been told the prisoner was suspected of suffering from coronavirus.Senior reformist MPs have called for political prisoners to be released temporarily during the outbreak.The Iranian judiciary spokesman, Gholam Hossein Ismaili, has responded to growing political pressure over the risk of contagion in prisons by putting prison staff on high alert for signs of the disease.He said he was activating a range of preventative measures to prevent an outbreak, both by cutting the number of people being sent to jail and by allowing some inmates out on temporary early release.

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