“Iran’s Second Largest City At Risk Of Coronavirus Disaster,” Maryam Sinaiee, Radio Farda, March 14, 2020.
“Top Iranian general Shabani dies of Covid-19,” New Straits Times, March 14, 2020. Brig. Gen. Nasser Shabani had at one time been responsible for quelling internal dissent.
April 8 is the big day, the day after which Iran’s rate and numbers will decline, per the Regime’s Minister of Health, Saeid Namak, who also said that June 20 is also a big day—when the crisis will be over in Iran. Reminds me of “Let it be written, let it be done.” (Pharaoh Ramses, played by Yul Brynner, in “The Ten Commandments”). BTW, there is no health official anywhere in the world predicting the peak and end dates for their country-wide illness—except for Iran’s Health Minister. See “Iran Health Minister Says Coronavirus Epidemic Will Peak In April,” Radio Farda, March 11, 2020.
“WHO says Iran’s strategies to control COVID-19 ‘in the right direction’,” Tehran Times, March 14, 2020.
“Iran’s coronavirus ‘diagnosis’ app looks more like a surveillance tool,” Jon Fingas, Engadget, March 14, 2020.
“UN Human Rights Council applauds Iran in periodic review,” Times of Israel, March 14, 2020. What type of a world do we live in? Where is the UN Sec. Gen., deriding the most recent HRCouncil report praising Iran? Iran was backed by North Korea, Syria, Russia, and China, over 100 countries actually, and Iran will in later reports praise them. China said it “commends Iran’s efforts to eradicate poverty, enhance social security, protect the rights of vulnerable groups and hopes Iran will continue to drive economic and social development to provide a solid basis for the enjoyment of all human rights.” Russia praised Iran’s “cooperation with human rights treaty bodies and openness for dialogue.” Deputy chief of Iran’s High Council on Human Rights, Majid Tafreshi, said that all citizens in Iran are “equally protected by the law,” and said that journalists and NGOs have freedom of expression. Amnesty International’s most recent report, in contrast, has it right—Iran is a serial abuser of human rights and is guilty of crimes against humanity. Iran refused to allow the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Iran to tour the country to investigate its human rights conditions. According to Amnesty International’s latest report, Iran’s authorities have “heavily suppressed the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. Security forces used lethal force unlawfully to crush protests, killing hundreds, and arbitrarily detaining thousands of protesters. The authorities arbitrarily detained over 200 human rights defenders and imposed sentences of imprisonment and flogging against many of them. “Women continued to face discrimination and the authorities intensified their crackdown against women’s rights defenders campaigning against forced veiling laws. Ethnic and religious minorities faced entrenched discrimination,” the report said. “Torture and other ill-treatment, including through the denial of medical care, remained widespread and systematic; they were committed with impunity. Cruel, inhuman and degrading judicial punishments were carried out.” “Scores of people were executed, sometimes in public; several were under the age of 18 at the time of the crime. There were systematic violations of fair trial rights.”