Iran: Coronavirus death toll exceeds 34,700 in 297 cities

Surge in death toll in Sistan and Baluchestan and execution of prisoners on the eve of Ramadan in different cities

Maryam Rajavi: Executions reveal desperation and fear of a regime relying on executions as the only way to control the explosive society.

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) announced on Friday, April 24, 2020, that the Coronavirus fatalities has surpassed 34,700 in 297 cities across the country.

News from Sistan and Baluchestan indicates a significant rise in the number of deaths. The exact number is unknown, but in the past 24 hours, at least 90 people have lost their lives. The number of victims in Tehran is 5,870, Khorasan Razavi 2,775, East Azerbaijan 1,348, West Azerbaijan 1,130, Hamedan 886, Kurdistan 590, Semnan 575, Zanjan 475, North Khorasan 375, and Lorestan 795.

While the regime continues to cover-up the Coronavirus death toll and persists in giving out fake figures, Alireza Zali, head of the National Coronavirus Combat Taskforce (NCCT) in Tehran, told the state-run daily, Asr-e Iran, “Since the outbreak of the disease we have admitted about 58,000 Coronavirus patients in Tehran.”

Following the meeting of Health Ministers of member states of the World Health Organization, Saeed Namaki, the regime’s Health Minister, said, “We are still halfway through. We may still lose the game (the ball may elude our keeper) in the last minute, and we will be defeated and left humiliated in every corner of the globe.”

Today, a regime parliament deputy from Shiraz, Ali Akbari, told the state-run daily, Entekhab, “There has been a rise in Coronavirus spread in Fars Province over the past ten days. There is concern that the medical staff will suffer from fatigue and be exhausted as the disease is lingering.”

The president of Qom University of Medical Sciences warned today, “We may again face an epidemic and a second peak of the virus outbreak, which may be more severe, and if social distancing is not observed, it could cause irreparable damage.”

While Ali Khamenei and Hassan Rouhani are forcing people back to work, yesterday, in a letter to Rouhani which was published at the official state agency, ISNA, Mohammad-Reza Zafar Ghandi, head of regime’s Medical System Organization, wrote, “Any rush to open unnecessary and uncontrolled gathering sites such as places of worship, schools, universities, etc. will spread the disease, take lives, and waste past efforts. It will also exhaust the country’s medical staff.”

Even the state-run media are lampooning the regime’s figures on the number of infected and fatalities. Today the state-run daily, Rooz-e No wrote, “Who should be blamed? The people, the foreign media or the authorities who have made statements with lots of inconsistencies? How could it be possible that every day, some health officials, including head of NCCT, speak about the increase of the infected, or the governors of Mazandaran and Khuzestan provinces speak about the significant increase of the infection, and then the (officially announced) figures decrease every day?” “Dr. Zali (head of NCCT) stated yesterday that 6,000 people suspected of infection have gone to hospitals; even if we assume that only one-sixth of them have been infected, then all the 1,030 infected people (officially announced by the Health Ministry) should be marked for Tehran alone. As such, one has to assume that the number of infected people in other cities has not only decreased but reached zero,” the journal added.

Meanwhile, Seyed Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, a member of the regime’s Assembly of Experts and head of the “Islamic Science Academy,” said one of the regime’s concerns about Coronavirus was the popularity of cyberspace. Mirbagheri, whose remarks were published today by the state-run website, Jahad Daneshgahi, said, “The most dangerous phenomenon in the post-Coronavirus world is moving the human community toward the ruling virtual space; a space that is ruled by big powers is administered by a global network, and we are its users… The extent of training for using cyberspace in the past two months is more than the past few years… There’s a need to conduct big plans to confront this conspiracy of the superpowers.”

The situation in prisons remains critical. Every day there are reports that more prisoners are infected with Coronavirus, and as such, their lives are in more danger. However, instead of releasing the prisoners, the regime has accelerated the executions. In recent days, several prisoners were hanged in Saqqez, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Zahedan, Shiraz, Dastgerd (Isfahan), and Gohardasht prisons.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said, committing such crimes on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan, respected by all Muslims as the month of mercy and compassion; demonstrates the regime’s desperation and fear. The mullahs see no other way to control the explosive society other than using repression and violence. The regime thinks that with infinite savagery, it can block the path of an uprising that will uproot the regime, but these atrocities only intensify the potential for Social explosion.

Mrs. Rajavi once again reiterated that the United Nations Security Council must compel the regime to release prisoners.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
April 24, 2020