Assange and Catalan political prisoners urge UN to act on Covid-19 threat in prisons

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Catalan political prisoners  and several political prisoners from around the world have called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to urge states to safeguard the lives of prisoners in situation of vulnerability due to the pandemic. In a letter, they called on Bachelet to take “necessary action” in the face of “non-compliance” with the UN guidelines and recommendations.

After the High Commissioner called for political prisoners to be protected and released during the pandemic, the letter criticizes the fact that many states are not complying with their recommendations, which poses a high risk to their life and health. “We are concerned that many states are not complying with your recommendations and being held in custody during this pandemic poses a high risk”, they state in the letter.

Political prisoners lament that the pandemic is already affecting prisons, migrant detention centers and other detention centers and have recalled statements where Bachelet encouraged governments to urgently reduce the prison population.

Worrying situation

The letter states that the situation is even more “worrying” given the lack of hygiene, health resources and the overcrowding of prisons and detention centers in most of our countries. “Outbreaks are on the rise every day in prisons, as well as the death toll, both for Covid-19 and for the crackdown on protests that some prisoners have carried out in different jails and detention centers”, they lament.

The letter to Bachelet is signed by Catalan political prisoners Jordi Cuixart, Jordi Sánchez, Raül Romeva, Joaquim Forn, Dolors Bassa, Oriol Junqueras, Josep Rull, Jordi Turull and  Carme Forcadell. They are joined by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange; the leader of the Tupac Amaru organization in Argentina, Milagro Sala; Luís D’Elía from the Federation of Land, Housing and Habitat of the Central de los Trabajadores de Argentina; Colombian social leader Julian Andres Gil Reyes; the social leader of the Political Movement of Social and Popular Masses of the Colombian Middle East, Jose Vicente Murillo andJorge Enrique Niño (ex-president of the Communal Action Board of the Vereda las Bancas a Colombia).

Also the Mayan indigenous defender Q’eqchi of Guatemala Bernardo Caal Xol or the defenders of the right to the water and the territory of Honduras Jeremías Martínez, Porfirio Sorto Cedillo, Ewer Alexander Cedillo, José Daniel Márquez, Kelvin Romero, José Abelino Cedillo, Arnold Alemán Soriano and Orbin Hernández Hernández. Finally, the letter is also signed by the leader of the Rif popular movement Nasser Zefzafi, Western Sahara activist Mahfouda Bamba Lefkir and Western Sahara journalist Bachir Mahdar Khada.