China Quarantines College Students under Strict COVID Policy

A woman takes Coronavirus PCR test on the street, in Shanghai, China, 05 September 2022. (EPA)
A woman takes Coronavirus PCR test on the street, in Shanghai, China, 05 September 2022. (EPA)
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China Quarantines College Students under Strict COVID Policy

A woman takes Coronavirus PCR test on the street, in Shanghai, China, 05 September 2022. (EPA)
A woman takes Coronavirus PCR test on the street, in Shanghai, China, 05 September 2022. (EPA)

Almost 500 students at China’s premier college for broadcast journalists have been sent to a quarantine center after a handful of COVID-19 cases were detected in their dormitory.

The 488 students at Communication University of China, along with 19 teachers and five assistants, were transferred by bus beginning Friday night.

Quarantining anyone considered to have been in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus has been a pillar of China's strict "zero-COVID" policy. The quarantine centers include field hospitals as well as converted stadiums and exhibition centers that have been criticized for overcrowding, poor sanitation and spoiled food.

As of last week, approximately 65 million Chinese residents were under lockdown despite just 1,248 new cases of domestic transmission being reported on Sunday. Most of those were asymptomatic.

The lockdowns have sparked protests online and confrontations with health workers and police, and have exacted a major toll on the economy, affecting global supply chains for electronics and other products. The weekslong lockdown in China's biggest city of Shanghai over the summer prompted an exodus of migrant workers and foreign business people.

With the release of economic data this week, analysts will be looking for insights into how China's handling of the pandemic is impacting economic activity in the world’s second-largest economy. Lockdowns have been accompanied by nearly daily testing, travel restrictions and the suspension of classes at all levels.

China has pursued the relentless enforcement of the policy, even as virtually every other country has sought to return to normal life with the help of vaccines and drugs to fight the virus.

“Zero COVID” is closely associated with President and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, leading to accusations that the government has politicized a public health crisis. His administration has rejected statements from the World Health Organization that the policy is unsustainable, and has refused to approve foreign vaccines that are widely considered more effective than those produced by Chinese companies.

Xi, who has not traveled abroad since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, has taken control of all levers of power and struck a confrontational tone in foreign policy, while sidelining or imprisoning rivals. He has eliminated term limits on the presidency and is expected to receive a third five-year term as Communist leader at next month's party congress.



Iran Hangs Three More Accused of Spying for Israel

The life of Ahmadreza Djalali is at imminent risk, he wife said - AFP
The life of Ahmadreza Djalali is at imminent risk, he wife said - AFP
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Iran Hangs Three More Accused of Spying for Israel

The life of Ahmadreza Djalali is at imminent risk, he wife said - AFP
The life of Ahmadreza Djalali is at imminent risk, he wife said - AFP

Iran on Wednesday hanged three men convicted of spying for Israel after what activists decried as an unfair trial, bringing to six the number of people executed on such charges since the start of the war between the Islamic republic and Israel.

The hangings have also amplified fears for the life of Swedish-Iranian dual national Ahmadreza Djalali who has been on death row for seven-and-a-half years after being convicted of spying for Israel which his family vehemently denies.

The executions also bring to nine the number of people executed by Iran on espionage charges since the start of 2025, with activists accusing Tehran of using capital punishment as a means to instil fear in society.

Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul and Azad Shojai were executed earlier Wednesday in the northwestern city of Urmia, the judiciary said, the day after a truce between the Islamic republic and Israel came into effect, AFP reported.

They had "attempted to import equipment into the country to carry out assassinations," it added.

Iran had executed three other men accused of spying for Israel since the start of the conflict on June 13, in separate hangings on June 16, June 22 and June 23.

"The Islamic Republic sentenced Idris Ali, Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, and Azad Shojai to death without a fair trial and based on confessions obtained under torture, accusing them of espionage," Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), told AFP.

He said Ali and Shojai were two border porters -- known locally as kolbar -- who carry goods over the border.

"They were arrested on charges of smuggling alcoholic beverages but were forced to confess to espionage for Israel," he said. Ali and Shojai were members of Iran's Kurdish minority while Rasoul, while also Kurdish, was an Iraqi national.

- 'Imminent risk' -

He warned that in the coming weeks the lives of "hundreds" more prisoners sentenced to death were at risk. "After the ceasefire with Israel, the Islamic republic needs more repression to cover up military failures, prevent protests, and ensure its continued survival."

Djalali was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to death in October 2017 on charges of spying following what Amnesty International has termed "a grossly unfair trial" based on "'forced confessions' made under torture and other ill-treatment."

Long held in Tehran's Evin prison, which was hit by an Israeli strike on Monday before the truce, he has now been transferred to an unknown location, raising fears that his execution could be imminent, his family and government said.

"He called me and said, 'They're going to transfer me.' I asked where, and he said, 'I don't know,'" his wife Vida Mehrannia told AFP.

"Is it because they want to carry out the sentence? Or for some other reason? I don't know," she said, adding that she was "very worried" following the latest executions.

The Swedish foreign ministry said it had received information that he has been moved to an "unknown location" and warned there would be "serious consequences" for Sweden's relationship with Iran were he to be executed.

Amnesty International said Tuesday it was "gravely concerned" that he "is at imminent risk of execution".

- 'Grossly unfair trials' -

Rights groups say defendants in espionage cases are often convicted under vaguely-worded charges which are capital crimes under Iran's sharia law including "enmity against god" and "corruption on earth".

Analysts say that Israel's intelligence service Mossad has deeply penetrated Iran, as shown by its ability to locate and kill key members of the Iranian security forces in the conflict. But rights groups say that those executed are used as scapegoats to make up for Iran's failure to catch the actual spies.

Iran's judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had ordered swift trials against people suspected of collaborating with Israel with rights groups saying dozens of people have been arrested since the conflict started.

"A rush to execute people after torture-tainted 'confessions' and grossly unfair trials would be a horrifying abuse of power and a blatant assault on the right to life," said Hussein Baoumi, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

According to IHR, Iran has executed 594 people on all charges this year alone.