Iran frees more prisoners as coronavirus death surge to 988

Judiciary says overall figure of those briefly released is 85,000, has taken measures in jails to protect against virus.

People in Iran are being disinfected and their body temperature checked by officers as precautions against coronavirus [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]


Iran has temporarily freed thousands of additional prisoners, including political prisoners, in an attempt to reduce pressure on its prisons system as the country struggles to contain the spread of coronavirus.


The announcement on Tuesday came after the judiciary said last week that 70,000 prisoners had temporarily been released, mostly non-violent offenders serving short prison sentences.

"So far, some 85,000 prisoners have been released," judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said on Tuesday. "Also in the jails, we have taken precautionary measures to confront the outbreak."

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera's Zein Basravi said many of the prisoners who were released most recently, "are likely to be protesters who were arrested during anti-government demonstrations in November", adding that all prisoners are expected to be taken back into custody on April 3.

The death toll in Iran from the new coronavirus has reached 988 out of total 16,169 infections, one of the worst national outbreaks outside China, where the new virus was first detected late last year.

Source