NCR IRAN's video: Iran news in brief January 9 2021

Iran news in brief, January 9, 2021 Coronavirus Fatalities in Iran Exceeds 198,900 Over 198,900 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 478 cities checkered across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to reports tallied by the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran as of Friday afternoon local time. The official death toll declared by the regime stands at 55,933 around a third of the actual figure. While the number of Covid-19 victims in Iran is reaching the 200,000 mark under the most conservative assessments, regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei specifically expressed his opposition to importing vaccines. He left no doubt that he is the first individual responsible for the killing of thousands of deprived Iranians. “The entry of American and British Covid-19 vaccines into the country are banned. I have told this to our officials and now I am saying it publicly,” he said on Friday. “If the Pfizer company can make the virus vaccine, why do they want to give it us? They should use it themselves and not have such a high death rate… the same goes with the UK,” Khamenei added. “I also don’t trust [vaccines approved by the World Health Organization. I don’t know sometimes they want to check their vaccines on other nations to see if they work or not… I don’t have a good feeling about France either… If [officials] want to procure the vaccine from other places and it is a reliable country, that is no problem,” he continued. Iran: Political Prisoner Starts 21st Year in Prison One of Iran’s longest-serving political prisoners Gholam Hossein Kalbi started the 21st year of his life imprisonment sentence in Sheiban Prison of Ahvaz. The authorities have not granted him any prison leave in the past 20 years, despite his serious medical issues that require treatment. Gholam Hossein Kalbi was arrested in the city Dezful in January 2001 for being a member of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. Following his arrest, he was held for 14 months in solitary confinement in a detention center run by the Intelligence Department in Ahvaz, the capital city of Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran. Read More: https://www.ncr-iran.org https://www.facebook.com/IranNCR/ https://twitter.com/iran_policy Subscribe to NCRI weekly newsletter t.ly/MybJ