Iran temporarily frees 85,000 prisoners, including political ones, amid coronavirus

TIL Desk/World/Tehran/ Iran has temporarily freed about 85,000 prisoners, including political prisoners, in response to the coronavirus epidemic, a judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday.

The death toll in Iran from coronavirus has risen to 988 and a total of 16,169 people have been confirmed infected across the country, one of the worst national outbreaks outside China, where the pandemic originated.

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

“Yes, about 50% of them were security-related prisoners,” he said when asked at a briefing aired by state TV whether political prisoners were among those freed. He did not elaborate on when those released would have to return to jail.