Coronavirus causing Iran to lose control of its prisons

Legal Insurrection:
With the worsening of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak in Iran, prisons across the country are witnessing rioting and mass breakouts, Iranian state-run media confirmed.

As the official Iranian death toll nears 3,000 and confirmed cases of the virus reach close to 45,000, Iran has become an epicenter of the virus which that first appeared in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. The actual extent of the outbreak could be much higher, as suggested by the mass graves dug by the regime and elaborate misinformation campaign.

The prison unrest comes when the regime has already released around 100,000 inmates in a desperate move to stop the spread of the virus. About 50,000 are still languishing in Iranian prisons, including several U.S. nationals in illegal custody. Tehran excluded political prisoners and dissidents from the mass release, the U.S.-based Center for Human Rights in Iran disclosed.

The news website Times of Israel reported the series of prison riots:

Prisoners in southern Iran broke cameras and caused other damage during a riot, state media reported Monday, the latest in a series of violent prison disturbances in the country, which is battling the most severe coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East. (…)

The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Governor Enayatollah Rahimi of the southern Fars province as saying a riot broke out at Adel Abad Prison, the main lockup in the city of Shiraz. Rahimi said prisoners broke cameras and caused other damage in two sections housing violent criminals. No one was wounded and no one escaped.

IRNA reported Friday that 70 inmates had escaped Saqqez Prison in Iran’s western Kurdistan province. Prisoners beat guards during the chaos, a local prosecutor said. Several inmates later returned on their own to the prison.

Since the beginning of the year, riots have broken out in prisons in Aligudarz, Hamedan and Tabriz as well, with some prisoners escaping, IRNA reported.
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There is a video of one of the alleged riots.  Iran is trying to use the virus as an excuse to get US sanctions lifted by the Trump administration says it will not do so until the country gives up its nuclear program.

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