Iran: repression against doctors and health personnel is growing, some of them have died in suspicious circumstances

ROME – The Iranian Center for Human Rights (CHRI) reports that an increasing number of doctors and health workers continue to be arrested, tortured and killed by Islamic Republic forces for treating injured protesters. International law mandates the protection of medical personnel as they carry out their duty to render care to those in need. It should be noted that the CHRI is based in New York and is made up of journalists, researchers and human rights defenders. The staff collaborates with a team of investigators and Iranian civil society activists, able – reads the website of the Center – to report and document in real time, in the field, the conditions of human rights in that country.

History. On November 30, 2022, Dr. Yasser Rahmani-Rad, 34, along with his colleague Behnam Owhadi, 49, and operating room technician Homayoun Eftekharnia, 23, were arrested by the police as they were traveling to the provinces of western Iran to assist injured protesters. Their work tools were confiscated as were the supplies of painkillers and serums they carried with them. They were detained for a total of forty-six days, of which thirty-six were in solitary confinement. All three were released on bail on January 19, 2023. For the regime, their crime was to rescue rebel protesters, thus endangering national security. The judge who questioned them stated that he would have punished them in an exemplary manner because those who oppose the Islamic Republic deserve to die, not to be treated.

The witness. “It seemed like they treated us with respect, but the way we were questioned was heartbreaking. They went on for hours, non-stop, they wanted us to admit that helping the wounded had nothing to do with our duty as doctors but were politically motivated actions,” they told the Iranian Center for Human Rights. “We were in solitary confinement for 36 days, but those 10 days spent in the public ward together with the other inmates we saw everything. Prisoners beaten, threatened with rape, whipped on the soles of their feet, subjected to electric shocks, slapped with the deliberate intention of damaging their hearing, hung upside down from the ceiling to cause rib fractures.

Doctors and national security. Since the eruption of anti-government protests across Iran following the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, at least 81 doctors, health workers and medical students have been arrested. Two women doctors have died under suspicious circumstances – documents the CHRI. Most of the detentions were carried out without any warrants.

Khamenei’s grace. Meanwhile, the supreme leader Ali Khamenei on February 8 announced the granting of pardons and reduced sentences for tens of thousands of people arrested for taking part in the protests of recent months. Pardons are granted annually to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Republic or Persian New Year, which this year will fall on 20 March. Prisoners who have already been convicted can be pardoned, not those merely accused. But Khamenei’s pardons this year are mostly for accused inmates, not convicted ones.

The propaganda. “It is a simple political move” – ​​comments the Iranian Center for Human Rights in its weekly report. “Detained protesters and other political prisoners should be released immediately not because Khamenei is benevolent but because the law says so. This so-called pardon that the leader is allegedly granting is nothing more than a blatant ploy that shows the completely arbitrary nature of justice in the Islamic Republic, where arrests and releases are a whim of the state”, CHRI continues.

The freedom of assembly. In the specific case of the protesters, then, the Iranian Constitution guarantees freedom of peaceful assembly, so they should all be released because they are innocent, not because they are pardoned. Among other things, the judicial authorities have explicitly declared that the pardon will be extended only to those who apologize and repent of the actions committed.

Overcrowding in prisons. Iranian prisons, already overcrowded before the wave of protests in recent months, are now overflowing to the point that the issue of prisons has become a national security issue. Although we are talking about estimates – and most likely those reported by observers are all downwards – at least twenty thousand people have been arrested from 16 September to today.

National security. For former political prisoner Leila Hosseinzadeh, the issue of pardon has more to do with the desperation of the judiciary than with forgiveness. Indeed, the government is making mass arrests, but does not have adequate infrastructure to handle such a large number of long-term detainees. So overcrowding could become a national security risk both inside and outside prison. Some activists have also pointed out that Khamenei’s previous pardons have never been followed by the actual release of the prisoners. In March 2021 it was decided to release about ten thousand prisoners with a general amnesty, yet many, after two years, still crowd the country’s prisons.