From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Iran state TV: Khamenei to pardon 10,000 more prisoners
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s top leader will pardon 10,000 more prisoners in an apparent effort to combat the coronavirus, state TV reports.
As part of steps to curb the spread of the new virus that has killed more than 1,100 people in Iran, the country has already released 85,000 prisoners on temporary leave.
The Middle East has some 20,000 cases of the virus, with most in Iran or originating from Iran.
To encourage people to stay at home in Iran, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour writes on social media that the virus infects 50 Iranians on average every single hour and that “one dies every 10 minutes.”
“Make smart decisions about travel, visits and meetings,” he writes on Twitter, as highways remained crowded with people traveling to see family ahead of the Iranian New Year on Friday.
State TV quotes judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili as saying that 10,000 prisoners — among them an unknown number of inmates whose cases are political and related to activism or speech — would be granted amnesty under a decree by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the occasion of the new year, called Nowruz.
Western nations have urged Iran to release dual nationals and others, alleging they are used as bargaining chips in negotiations.
Among those temporarily freed was Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British dual national long held on internationally criticized charges. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the charitable Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in 2016 on charges of trying to topple the government while traveling with her toddler daughter.
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.