Prepared Floor Remarks by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
On COVID-19 and Political Prisoners in Foreign Countries
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
“As our country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, I would like to take this opportunity to address the plight of an extremely vulnerable population, political prisoners abroad.
In Turkey, Syria, China and numerous other countries, political prisoners remain locked away in crowded prisons without adequate medical care.
The spread of COVID-19 among this population dramatically increases their risk of serious medical consequences or death.
Authoritarian regimes only risk further destabilization of their countries by jailing the innocent.
Political prisoners ought to be released and they ought to be released now.”