Iran has temporarily freed around 85,000 prisoners including political prisoners in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19, a judiciary spokesman in the country said today, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-iran-frees-85000-prisoners-to-combat-spread-of-covid-19-11958783">per</a> Sky News. According to the publication, the spokesman, Gholamhossein Esmaili, said: "Some 50% of those released are security-related prisoners... also in the jails we have taken precautionary measures to confront the outbreak." Last week, Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-iran-frees-85000-prisoners-to-combat-spread-of-covid-19-11958783">reportedly</a> urged Tehran to temporarily free all of its political prisoners from its overcrowded jails to help combat the spread of the disease. This Chinese Grandma recovered from COVID-19 in just six days: [[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/JODJF3Zr-dkXnENEs.mp4||JODJF3Zr]] "A number of dual and foreign nationals are at real risk if they have not... got it [coronavirus], they are really fearful of the conditions," Rehman, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8120389/Iran-lets-85-000-prisoners-temporary-release-coronavirus-fears.html">per</a> the Daily Mail. "This is also my worrying concern and therefore I have recommended to the state of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release all prisoners on temporary release." According to the <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-coronavirus-iran-release-85000-21705108">Mirror</a>, yesterday (Monday, 16 March), Iran suffered 129 fatalities in the nation's most significant one-day rise since the virus broke out. The publication also reports that a religious leader in the country, Ayatollah Hashem Bathayi Golpayegani, died from the disease at the age of 78, just two days after he tested positive for coronavirus. Idris Elba tells his fans he has tested positive for coronavirus: [[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/ECe0TK7c-Q0L14jDU.mp4||ECe0TK7c]] In a <a class="c-link" href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.who.int%2Fdg%2Fspeeches%2Fdetail%2Fwho-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="slack-kit-tooltip">report from the World Health Organization</a> last week (11 March), WHO declared that the COVID-19 outbreak had now reached pandemic status. China has seen the most cases and deaths from COVID-19, with Iran having the third-highest death toll from the disease, having been overtaken by Italy. Per <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-maps-and-cases/">CNN</a>, there have, at the time of writing, been reported 14,991 cases and 853 deaths from coronavirus in the Middle Eastern country. Overall, the disease has caused at least 168,019 cases and 6,610 deaths worldwide.

Iran frees 85,000 prisoners to combat spread of COVID-19

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