Italian & Canadian lawmakers' solidarity with Iran people amid coronavirus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Italian and Canadian lawmakers have been expressing solidarity with the Iranian people amid the coronavirus outbreak in Iran and regime's inaction.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/activities-outside-iran\/2020\/03\/italian-canadian-lawmakers-solidarity-with-iran-people-amid-coronavirus\/14996\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Italian & Canadian lawmakers' solidarity with Iran people amid coronavirus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Italian and Canadian lawmakers have been expressing solidarity with the Iranian people amid the coronavirus outbreak in Iran and regime's inaction.\" 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{"id":14996,"date":"2020-03-26T19:57:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T18:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=14996"},"modified":"2020-03-26T19:57:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T18:57:47","slug":"italian-canadian-lawmakers-solidarity-with-iran-people-amid-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/activities-outside-iran\/2020\/03\/italian-canadian-lawmakers-solidarity-with-iran-people-amid-coronavirus\/14996\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Canadian lawmakers’ solidarity with Iran people amid coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Italian Canadian lawmakers\u2019 solidarity with Iran people amid coronavirus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italian and Canadian lawmakers and politicians have been expressing solidarity with and concern for the Iranian people during the coronavirus <\/a>pandemic as the regime fails to respond appropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Italian Committee of Parliamentarians\nfor a Free Iran wrote a letter to United Nations High Commissioner for Human\nRights Michelle Bachelet on March 23 to express concerns over rising\ncoronavirus deaths in Iran and show solidarity with the Iranian people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter<\/a>, which was also sent to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Javaid Rehman, explained that the Committee has followed Iran\u2019s human rights situation for years, with the hope that the Iranian people will see freedom, democracy, and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They wrote: \u201cThe spread of the disease has\nbeen extremely severe in Iran, mounting to a humanitarian catastrophe.\nAccording to information collected on the field and provided by the opposition\nmovement\u00a0People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), not less than\n9600 (now, 11,500) infected people have already lost their lives, while\ninternational media suggest that the Iranian regime is building vast\ncoronavirus burial pits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The signatories, including Italian MPs\nAntonio Tasso and Stefania Pezzopane, said that the regime\u2019s cover-up was a\ncrime against humanity and urgent intervention was needed to save lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They wrote: \u201cWe call on the United Nations\nto address this issue by adopting all the possible measures. In particular, the\nWorld Health Organization should provide humanitarian assistance to the Iranian\npopulation not to the organs of the Iranian regime, such as the IRGC, but directly\nto the hospitals. Furthermore, the regime\u2019s officials responsible for\nconcealing the extent of the epidemic in Iran should be held accountable by international\nbodies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran\nwrote a letter to Rehman, on March 20, highlighting their concern over the fate\nof political prisoners as coronavirus spreads easily in the overcrowded and\nunhygienic prison conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter<\/a>\nwas also sent to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Minister\nFrancois-Philippe Champagne, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Bachelet,\nand WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It read: \u201cThe mistruths, cover-ups and\ndisinformation, coupled\u00a0with total disregard for human lives and the\nincompetence of Iranian regime\u00a0leaders, have caused an exponential growth\nof the [coronavirus] inside Iran. This has led\u00a0reportedly to more than\n6400 deaths (now, 11,500) across the country so far. The WHO team,\u00a0which\narrived in Tehran to assess the situation, confirmed that the scale of\nthe\u00a0human losses is under-reported by officials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They said that prisoners are especially\nvulnerable to infection because of the factors already mentioned, but have\nalways been denied adequate healthcare. This is of particular concern for\npolitical prisoners, who were not among the prisoners granted temporary\nrelease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a quoted statement from 40 political\nprisoners who went on hunger strike to protest their continued incarceration,\nthey explained that some inmates have already\u00a0died from the virus and that\nthe regime\u2019s refusal to release them is a crime against humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter read: \u201cWe believe the spread of\nCOVID-19 in Iran\u2019s prisons against defenceless, unprotected and vulnerable\npolitical prisoners is already a disaster with generational consequences. In\nthe circumstances, we urge you to press as hard as you can to ensure\nthat\u00a0political prisoners, who were already suffering a huge injustice for\nseeking justice\u00a0and human dignity for all Iranians, are released and\nsafeguarded from this\u00a0pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"