Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA
Human rights organizations accuse Iranian authorities of arresting and attacking health professionals who are providing medical care to protesters injured in the wave of anti-government protests.
Iranian authorities will be detaining doctors and healthcare professionals accused of treating protesters injured during the continued repression of protests anti-government in the country. At least one surgeon now faces the possibility of the death penalty, according to human rights organizations.
Alireza Golchinia 52-year-old surgeon from the central city of Qazvin, was charged with moharebeh — “wage war against God” —, a crime that can result in the death penalty under Iranian law. The Norwegian-based human rights group Hengaw publicized the indictment, while the US State Department publicly called for his immediate release.
Golchini was arrested at his home on January 10, in an operation that his family described as violent. His cousin, Nima Golchini, speaking from Canada, said that the surgeon was beaten during detentionsuffering fractures to his ribs and arm, and was taken in front of his wife and 11-year-old son. “My family is terrified,” he said.
According to family members, Golchini had recently shared his phone number on social media, offering medical assistance to injured protesters and had also assisted protesters during the 2022 protests. Human rights groups say these actions made doctors targets of a broader retaliation campaign to intimidate medical networks.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency reports more than 6,000 deaths linked to the protests, with more than 17,000 additional cases under investigation. Another US-based group, Human Rights Activists in Iran, claims that at least 42,324 people were detained across the country, many with little information available about their status or whereabouts.
The organization Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) reported that at least nine doctors and health volunteers have been detained in recent days. Reports indicate that security forces raided makeshift medical shelters and private homes used to treat injured protesters. In one case, a volunteer rescuer was detained after turn your home into a makeshift clinicwith security forces destroying his property and brutally attacking him during his detention, reports .
“This seems to be a deliberate revenge campaign against doctors and health professionals who refuse to abandon the injured,” said Hossein Raeesi, an exiled Iranian human rights lawyer.
Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on Golchini’s detention. However, the head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, urged authorities to not show mercy towards those who are accused of disturbing public order.
