At least two prisoners have died in Orumiyeh Central Prison over the past week with symptoms of COVID-19, informed sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

Families of a number of prisoners described the situation at Orumiyeh Central Prison as critical following the spread of the Coronavirus. “The prison officials and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have taken extra security measures in the prison in an attempt to confront any possible protests instead of addressing the issue of prison leave and providing health & medical care.”, the families say.

Informed sources in Orumiyeh have also reported the transfer of at least 40 prisoners from Ward 1-2, 3-3, 14 and Psychiatric ward to a hospital outside the prison or the “clean ward” of the prison last week. After the spread of the coronavirus at Orumiyeh Central Prison, this ward is dedicated to new inmates with three separate wards, prisoners suspected of having COVID-19 and prisoners with coronavirus after coming back from the hospital. However, the detainees are said to be using shared open-air daylight and sanitary facilities in the ward, which has made the quarantine system ineffective in the prison.

Anwar Ghorbanzadeh was one of the new detainees who was transferred from the clean ward to Ward 3-4 last week without completing the quarantine period. After his health deteriorated, he was taken to the hospital with 19 other prisoners but he died at the hospital. Another prisoner is said to have died at the hospital, but his identity is still unknown.

At least five prisoners, Fatemeh Alizadeh, Hassan Javadi, Fariq Mohammadi, and Anwar Ghorbanzadeh, have died at  Orumiyeh Central Prison since the spread of the coronavirus. As mentioned in the report, the identity of the fifth person has not yet been discovered yet.