That statement, issued Sunday after the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) revealed the grim milestone, explained that the extraordinarily high death toll could (and should) have been avoided, and it wasn’t because of the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, who failed to take appropriate action, the death toll was not as high as it is.

Maryam Rajavi said: “This catastrophe could have been prevented and such a large scale of loss of lives could have been avoided… Ali Khamenei and Hassan Rouhani are directly responsible for the soaring number of victims and they must be held to account.”

After all, she notes, the ordinary Iranian people were sent back to work after a lax lockdown that came far too late and was over far too soon. The regime had more than enough money – mostly held, ironically, in foundations that are supposed to help the poor – to pay people to stay home until the curve had been flattened and the danger had passed. This money, which the regime would rather use to fund their warmongering and terrorism, was not distributed as it should have been but has been hoarded away.

Maryam Rajavi advised that Iran’s death toll – even the official fake figure of just over 8,000 deaths – cannot be compared to the death toll in other Middle Eastern countries that are much poorer than Iran. Indeed, Iran has the second-highest death toll in the world and the Iranian people will not forget or forgive the actions that led here.

Even state-run media has been forced to admit to the true cost of the regime’s horrific response to the coronavirus, noting more Iranian lives have been lost in the past four months than during the whole of the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war.

The asriran.ir website wrote on June 6: “The coronavirus has taken a higher toll on Iranians than the imposed war, but since there is no uproar about it we might be misled.”

The website that criticized the regime for trying to normalize the situation, sending people back to work and reopening all non-essential workplaces by telling people to abide by hygienic protocols, like wearing masks, washing hands frequently, and social distancing. The site mocked the regime’s approach, saying that this won’t stop the coronavirus’s second wave.

In a previous statement, on the occasion of 49,000 coronavirus deaths in Iran, Maryam Rajavi urged the United Nations Secretary-General, UN Security Council, and other relevant bodies to take immediate action to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Iranian prisons, specifically citing the case of those incarcerated in Urmia.

A large number of prisoners in central Urmia Prison began exhibiting severe coronavirus symptoms in the last week of May, but the authorities’ negligence has caused the virus to spread widely.

Following protests by the prisoners, some were tested and all of those were deemed to be infected with the virus, but they are still denied adequate medical care or cleaning supplies.

 

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Health Authorities Issue Contradictory Remarks on Iran’s COVID-19 Outbreak