Leader Deplores Laxity in Handling Viral Pandemic

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Saturday reprimanded recent inaction by officials and individuals who have grown lax in the fight against the viral pandemic.
During a videoconference with judiciary officials on Saturday, Ayatollah Khamenei touched on Iran’s battle against the Covid-19 disease, praising the sacrifices made by healthcare providers while rebuking “some” officials and people who behave as if the pandemic “has been brought to an end”.
The Leader said, “Iran was hailed as a successful country in the world at first, but it was short-lived and currently some officials and some of the public have become slack.”
Iran is among the hardest-hit countries, logging over 220,000 cases and 10,000 deaths. The recent resurgence of the viral infection following the reopening of the economy has drawn widespread public criticism.
“When it is said that the coronavirus should not cause economic setbacks, it is correct, but negligence and the wide-scale spread of the disease can increase economic problems,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Iran registered 2,456 confirmed cases and 125 fatalities on Saturday. Nearly 3,000 of those hospitalized in intensive care units are in critical condition. 
According to the Health Ministry, six of the country’s 31 provinces are in a state of emergency and five are registering alarming numbers.

Steadfastness in Fighting Corruption

At the online meeting with judiciary officials, the Leader compared coronavirus with corruption, calling both “very dangerous” and “contagious” to highlight the judicial system’s main mission of rooting out rampant corruption.
Building on his analogy, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The only difference between the coronavirus and the virus of corruption is that the coronavirus can be washed off from hands but the only way to tackle corruption is to chop off the hand of the corrupt.”
Ayatollah Khamenei applauded the measures taken by the judiciary over the past year on the watch of Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raeisi who has made a point of tackling political and financial corruption.
He said, “Attacking corruption has peaked at this time, it must effectively continue without bias and based on rights, justice and the law.”
The Leader stressed that it is the obligation of the judiciary to fight corruption “in all shapes and forms”. 
“Combating corruption should take place first and foremost in the judiciary system since the ramifications and the blow dealt by corruption inside the judiciary will be very heavy,” he said.
According to Ayatollah Khamenei, the fight against corruption began with Iran’s former chief justice, Sadeq Amoli Larijani, now picked up by Raeisi, who gave a formal report of the judiciary’s one-year record before the Leader’s speech.
The judiciary chief pointed out that combating corruption is his major priority and said, “Over 1,000 have been sentenced in courts against financial corruption and this trend will persistently continue.”  
The Leader concluded that among the other duties of the judicial system are to make efforts to “raise public awareness” about the judiciary, to deal “directly” with the people and to “use information and help received from people in cases such as corruption”.