While people in Iran are getting ready to celebrate the Nowruz, the Iranian new year, on March 21, the list of prisoners who are spending another holiday away from their families and loved ones gets longer. Dozens of human rights defenders, including labor rights activists, minorities rights defenders, and women rights defenders are at risk of spending another Iranian new year in prison.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, the past two years have been particularly difficult for prisoners in Iran. At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, Iranian authorities temporarily released thousands of prisoners, but many of those imprisoned for peaceful dissent were excluded.

Yet over the past two years, dozens of activists have contracted Covid-19, including some whose health deteriorated to a critical condition. On January 8, 2022, Baktash Abtin died from complications of Covid-19 while he was in custody, and authorities allegedly denied the care he needed the most. Additionally, as a form of punishment, according to the latest report by the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, many defenders have been transferred to prisons far from their homes during the pandemic.

As Iranians and other communities await to celebrate the arrival of spring, let’s not forget those who are only welcoming in the new year from behind the bars due to Iranian authorities' unjust imprisonment of them.