{"id":217610,"date":"2020-05-02T14:38:08","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T13:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=217610"},"modified":"2023-01-23T18:51:40","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T17:51:40","slug":"irans-control-over-coronavirus-news-adds-one-humanitarian-crisis-on-top-of-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/irans-control-over-coronavirus-news-adds-one-humanitarian-crisis-on-top-of-another\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Control over Coronavirus News Adds One Humanitarian Crisis on Top of Another"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Iran\u2019s
Iran: Coronavirus outbreak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week,\u00a0<\/span>Iran<\/span>\u00a0surpassed 3<\/a><\/span>8<\/span>,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus. However, the Iranian regime has acknowledged only about 6,000 of these deaths. To the extent that the world is aware of the others, it is because of the tireless efforts of dissident journalists and Iranian activists, especially those associated with the National Council of Resistance<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(NCRI)<\/span>\u00a0of Iran<\/span>\u00a0and the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK)<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The NCRI has been tracking the impact of the coronavirus outbreak since it was first acknowledged in February, and it recently released a report detailing not only the scale of the infections and fatalities but also the tactics whereby the regime suppresses public awareness of the crisis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The report noted that thousands of recent deaths have been miscategorized as heart attacks or unspecified pulmonary ailments when in fact Covid-19 was at least a contributing factor. It also noted that in many cases, the bodies of the deceased have been buried hastily, even against the wills of family members, in order to forestall a fuller understanding of the causes and the underlying crisis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But an examination of the bodies is not the only potential source of that understanding. Their very presence in Iranian hospitals and morgues should be evidence enough to conclusively undermine the <\/span>regime\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0claim that there have been only 6,000 Covid-19 deaths spanning a nation of 83 million people. And as it happens, numerous Iranian doctors, nurses, and morgue attendants have made efforts to expose the current prevalence of untimely death in their country, by sharing images and personal accounts from several weeks\u2019 experience with the outbreak.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those accounts do not last very long, either on social media or in\u00a0<\/span>domestic news sources that operate independently of\u00a0<\/span>the regime<\/span>\u00a0state media. Online content is heavily censored in\u00a0<\/span>Iran<\/span>, and the entire media landscape is tightly controlled.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During a nationwide uprising last year, the clerical regime made international headlines by shutting down internet access across the board for several days<\/span>, which was followed by massacring over 1500 protesters according to the MEK<\/a><\/span>. And at the beginning of April, as the Iran<\/span>ian regime\u00a0<\/span>finally adopted lockdown procedures as part\u00a0<\/span>of a late, brief, and inadequate effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the regime ordered a similarly comprehensive shutdown of all newspapers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The lockdown is now effectively ended, and as a result, the regime\u2019s control over the flow of information is arguably more important than ever. This is because the relaxation of social distancing standards is sure to cause a new spike in coronavirus infections and deaths.\u00a0<\/span>At least one study has applied recognized statistical models to the initial rates of infection described by the NCRI<\/a> and has determined that the reopening of Iran\u2019s domestic economy could result in an additional 60,000 deaths just by the end of May.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an unmistakable humanitarian crisis, and it is made even worse by the tactics that\u00a0<\/span>the regime<\/span>\u00a0is likely to implement in order to make sure that the general population remains silent about the increased rates of sickness and death they will be seeing. Not only have those people\u2019s voices already been purged from the\u00a0<\/span>regime\u2019s<\/span> media landscape but in many cases, they have been imprisoned for the invented crime of \u201crumor mongering.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brigadier General\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Abolfazl<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Shekarchi<\/span><\/a>, a spokesperson for\u00a0<\/span>the regime\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0armed forces, used that phrase on Tuesday in televised remarks that included a specific figure for the number of these arrestees. According to him, 3,600 people have been detained and may now be facing a sentence of up to three years in prison plus flogging, in line with the guidelines laid out by the judiciary at the beginning of March.<\/span><\/p>\n

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#Iran<\/a>, 3600 People Arrested for Posting the Real Figures of Fatalities of #COVID__19<\/a>
Brig. Gen. Shekarchi, the spokesman for the regime\u2019s armed forces: \u201cSome 3,600 people who had posted rumors in virtual space were arrested by the State Security Forces."https:\/\/t.co\/NxMnSUzz2k<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) April 30, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n