In the absence of government aid to people amid the coronavirus crisis, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are looting not only the items classified as public aid and vital health supplies, but also the aid voluntarily supplied by the people.
Women in Aligudarz had been sewing face masks with the intention of distributing them, free of charge, to the local community. However, in a criminal act of deception, members of the IRGC confiscated the masks and are selling them for 2,500 Tomans, each.
These IRGC operatives are committing their crime with impunity, despite the growing number of people infected by the coronavirus falling around on the streets without anyone attending to them.
Video footage shows people protesting the fact that they cannot get through to emergency and government-sponsored hotlines, which were set up to respond to citizens’ calls for help. According to the protesters, in the rare event that telephone calls are actually answered, callers are directed to contact another institution!
Moreover, credible sources have reported that, besides confiscating face masks, the IRGC is hoarding medical supplies and other foreign aid. IRGC operatives then sell the supplies on the black market at hugely inflated prices
Conversely, People’s Councils in which women play an active role have been making selfless donations, with no expectation of compensation, to help fight the coronavirus. Women have been sewing masks and medical scrubs to support the medical professionals at the front lines of the fight against the deadly virus.
In Marivan, the People’s Councils donated 57 nurses’ uniforms to Bu Ali and Fajr Hospitals.
In Aligudarz, the People’s Councils equipped 20 tractors, at no cost, to disinfect the city.
In Shahr-e-Rey, resistance units (affiliated with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran) donated face masks to their fellow citizens.
“We collected some money, provided masks and disinfectants, and sent them to Gilan. We also packed some food and took it to poorhouses in south [of the city] so that residents would not go hungry. Many people have lost their income,” claimed a Tehran-based woman.
On Qeshm Island, fishermen have extended their fishing hours, working all day so as to feed those in need.
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