Around 17 fisherfolk from Kerala who are currently stranded in Azalur, Iran, after the country shut down its airports due to the coronavirus spread have now alleged that they are facing threats from their sponsor.
In a video which shows the stranded men sitting inside a tiny room in Azalur, one of them said that the group's sponsor had threatened to cut off their food, water supply and mobile connections.
"Our sponsor came to our room and demanded that we pay the balance amount of our visa and threatened to hold us captive until we did so. He also warned us that he will cut our basic supplies such as food, gas and water if we refused to pay. Since all the airports in Iran are shut, he said that there is no way a flight from India can land here and even if it did, he said he would not release our passports unless we paid," one of the stranded men alleged in the video.
According to the stranded community, it was only after the Indian Embassy officials in Tehran contacted the group to safely evacuate them from the room in Azalur that they began receiving threats. For two days since the lockdown in Iran, the 17 men had not heard from the sponsor. And it was only after their situation began gaining media attention that their sponsor visited them and issued these threats, they say.
Meanwhile India's foreign affairs ministry as well as the Kerala government are taking efforts for the relocation of the stranded men to a safer location in Iran, since flying them out would be tough, considering the current lockdown.
On Sunday, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, in a letter, requested Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaisankar to evacuate the stranded men, many of whom hailed from Tharoor's Lok Sabha constituency. Meanwhile Jaisankar responded that the Indian government was working with Iranian authorities to set up a screening process for the Indians who were stranded due to the coronavirus scare to safely return home.
Meanwhile, another group of Indian fishermen have also requested the government of India to expedite the process of bringing them back home. Over 1000 fishermen from India are stuck in Chiru port, Charak port, Kish island, Lavan island and Mugham in Iran. Of this, around 780 fishermen are from Tamil Nadu, mostly from Kanyakumari district and around 300 fishermen hail from Gujarat.
Speaking to TNM from Iran, one of the fishermen from Tamil Nadu said that there has not been any update from the Indian Embassy over the past few days. “We had submitted a list of our names and other details 2-3 days ago to the officials of the embassy. We have not heard back from them yet. We are scared now since we are hearing that the virus is spreading fast here,” he said on the condition of anonymity.
“The (Iranian) owners of the boats are telling us to go back into the sea but we don’t want to. They are forcing us to go. Since we refused, they are now stopping the shopkeepers from selling us supplies, which is making life difficult for us,” he said, adding that the food and water in the boats are sufficient to last them only for two more days.
On Monday, Iran’s health ministry said the number of deaths due to coronavirus in Iran stood at 66 with over 1500 infections. The cries for help from the fishermen assumes greater significance since the Indian aviation authority, the DGCA, has cancelled all flight operations from Iran. The Deputy Health Minister of Iran and the Vice President of Iran have both tested positive for coronavirus.
Meanwhile, health experts from across the globe have expressed concern over the manner in which Iran has been handling the coronavirus outbreak. Reports stated that given the current death rate, the number of positive cases in the country could be higher.
Iran has also been at the receiving end of US sanctions and as per Human Rights Watch, it hampers Iranians’ Right to Health. A research paper from the University of Toronto published on February 25 indicates that Iran could have nearly 18,300 positive cases of coronavirus.