Iranian authorities will continue to reduce the occupancy rate in prisons to avoid the spread of the coronavirus among prisoners, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaeili said on Tuesday
TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) Iranian authorities will continue to reduce the occupancy rate in prisons to avoid the spread of the coronavirus among prisoners, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaeili said on Tuesday.
"Last Wednesday, the head of the judiciary ordered the resumption of the process of temporary release of prisoners," Esmaeili said, as aired by the IRINN broadcaster, adding that this decision was made due to the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
According to the official, legislative norms have been enacted for downgrading punishment for certain crimes. This requires the cases of specific prisoners to be reviewed.
In addition, he added that the Iranian authorities are currently trying to use other types of punishment rather than imprisonment when possible.
"It helped reduce the number of people in prisons, and also allowed to maintain the health of prisoners," Esmaeili added.
As of May 5, Iran has temporarily released over 114,000 prisoners who were serving their sentences. This, however, did not include prisoners that pose a danger to society.
Iran has recorded over 260,000 cases of COVID-19 and about 13,200 fatalities. Over the past month, the epidemiological situation in the country has worsened, both in terms of the average daily infection rate and the number of coronavirus-related deaths.
