Iran’s biggest airline may have brought the first cases of coronavirus from China to two Arab countries by continuing to operate with impunity despite a travel ban.
Iran officially suspended all flights to and from China on January 31 in response to the coronavirus outbreak. But a BBC Arabic investigation has found Mahan Air was given permission by Iranian authorities to conduct another 157 flights to and from China between January 31 and April 20.
These flights ran between Tehran airport and the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Ghangzhou and Shenzen. At the same time, Mahan Air continued to fly passengers to other countries including Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
The BBC reports that the first two cases of COVID-19 announced in these countries, on February 21 and February 24 respectively, had both been passengers on Mahan Air flights. In Lebanon, “patient zero” is thought to have been a woman who was returning from a pilgrimage to Qom, whose case was announced on February 21, and in Iraq the first case was an Iranian student.
A Mahan Air source also told the BBC that during this period some 50 cabin crew members had shown signs of COVID-19 and been pressured to sign non-disclosure agreements that threatened them with prosecution if they spoke out.
BBC journalist Nawal al-Maghafi said: “The airline’s links to the Revolutionary Guards may have given Mahan Air the cover it needs to continue to do some business around the world, helping to spread the coronavirus and endanger people’s lives.”
For more information on how Mahan flouted Iran’s supposed travel ban, you can read IranWire’s chronology here.
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