Iran protests: Doctors say injured demonstrators were killed in hospital beds; rights groups demand WHO probe.
Doctors and rights groups say wounded demonstrators in Iran have been killed while receiving treatment in hospitals, and medical staff who treated them have been arrested, according to a medic speaking to the press.
The anonymous doctor, identified only as Dr R and linked to the Aida Health Alliance, told reporters that several injured patients were discovered dead in their treatment beds and that some appeared to have sustained gunshot wounds while still attached to medical equipment.
Dr R accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of targeting the wounded after they were brought into hospital care. He said staff who treated protest-related injuries were later detained and in some cases charged.
Photographs shared with reporters which have not been independently verified reportedly show deceased patients still connected to tubes and other medical devices.
Rights groups warn the images, if confirmed, point to serious violations of medical neutrality.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, said doctors’ accounts suggest a breakdown of basic medical and legal protections.
He called claims that hospitals were being used to detain or harm patients “an attack on both human rights and public health.”
Iran Human Rights and medical witnesses say there are reports of ventilators being shut off, restrictions on treatment for the injured, and arrests of hospital staff.
The groups say these actions if proven could amount to crimes against humanity and require international scrutiny.
Dr R also said the January 8 communications blackout worsened the crisis. With internet and phone lines cut, some people in medical emergencies were unable to call for help, he said, and vulnerable patients including the elderly and women in labour suffered as a result.
Medical personnel report they are being monitored after shifts. Dr R described cases in which healthcare workers were followed home by security forces, and said medical students and junior staff had also been detained.
The reports say some civilians who did not take part in protests still died because they could not reach hospitals or had their care interrupted. One account described a young man wounded in a protest who did not reach hospital in time and later died at home.
Human rights groups are asking the World Health Organization and other international bodies to investigate the claims, verify the images, and press for the protection of health workers and patients.
Iranian officials have denied organised abuses in some statements, even as the president issued an apology to those affected by the wider unrest.
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