February 13, 2023
In late November, three Iranian doctors traveled to the country’s western Kurdistan region, the epicenter of ongoing antiestablishment protests, to help treat wounded demonstrators.
But within days of
their arrival, the medical professionals were arrested on security charges.
Before they were released on bail last month, the three men were tortured in
custody, informed sources told RFE/RL.
The men were charged
with “disrupting national security” and “committing crimes against the
country’s internal and external security” due to their attempts to treat
“rioters,” a term the authorities have used to refer to antiestablishment
protesters.
Yaser Rahmanirad, a
general practitioner from the western city of Khorramabad; Behnam Ohadi, a
psychiatrist from Tehran; and Homayoun Eftekharnia, an anesthesiologist from
the capital, could face lengthy prison terms if found guilty.
They are among the
dozens of medical workers who have been arrested for taking part in the
protests or treating demonstrators wounded in the state crackdown.
The authorities have
killed hundreds of protesters and arrested thousands of people since the
demonstrations erupted in September. The protests are the biggest threat to
Iran’s clerical establishment in years.
Kurdistan has been the
scene of some of the deadliest crackdowns by the authorities, who have deployed
heavily armed troops to the region and used live ammunition against protesters.
Many demonstrators injured in the clampdown have refused to be taken to a
hospital for fear of arrest.
Solitary Confinement
On November 30,
Rahmanirad, Ohadi, and Eftekharnia headed to the city of Saghez, the hometown
of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death after her arrest by Iran’s
morality police triggered the nationwide protests.
After treating several
people and distributing medicine to those in need in Saghez, located in
Kurdistan Province, the three doctors travelled to neighboring West Azerbaijan,
another province with a significant Kurdish population.
Just hours after
arriving in the city of Mahabad on December 3, the doctors were arrested by
security forces, who seized their medicine and equipment. They were then taken
to prison, where they were subjected to torture, informed sources said.
The three men were held
in solitary confinement for more than a month and subjected to sleep
deprivation, the sources said. The interrogators also falsely told them that
their family members had been killed, in an attempt to break them, the sources
added.
After hours of
interrogations, the men were exposed to bright lights and loud sounds,
including the Islamic call to prayer, to prevent them from sleeping, the
sources said.
One of the
interrogators told them that “those opposing the Islamic establishment deserve
to die because if they receive treatment they will again engage in riots,” one
of the sources told RFE/RL.
Another interrogator
said that by attempting to treat injured protesters themselves, the doctors had
undermined trust in state health facilities and spread “propaganda against the
establishment,” the source said.
Interrogators also
accused Rahmanirad, a former student activist who had been arrested in the
past, of having ties to exiled Kurdish opposition groups that the authorities
have blamed for the unrest in Kurdistan, the sources said.
‘Constantly Watched’
Rahmanirad, Ohadi, and
Eftekharnia are among the dozens of doctors, nurses, and other medical workers
arrested during Iran’s crackdown on the antiestablishment protests.
Homa Fathi, a
Canada-based activist and member of the International Iranian Physicians and
Healthcare Providers Association, told RFE/RL that she had documented the
arrests of at least 53 medical workers as well as 54 medical students during
the crackdown.
Fathi said the majority
had been released on bail, but added that the real number of those arrested is
likely to be much higher. “They don’t have a good situation,” she said. “Some
have been [prevented] from working. They’re being constantly watched.”
Last month, the
France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported that Mohsen Sohrabi, a
doctor at a hospital in the western city of Sanandaj, had gone missing a day
after being summoned by security officials. Sources said Sohrabi had been
repeatedly threatened by security officials.
In December, Aida
Rostami, a doctor who allegedly treated injured protesters in Tehran’s Ekbatan
neighborhood, died under mysterious circumstances. The authorities said she had
fallen off a pedestrian bridge following an argument with a man who was later
arrested. Other sources said she was targeted by security forces.
Also in December, Iran
sentenced to death Hamid Qarahasanlou, a radiologist who had been involved in
charity work, over the killing of a member of the security forces during
protests in the city of Karaj. Later in January, Qarahasanlou’s death sentence
was overturned due to flaws in the investigation and amid protests by the
international medical community.
In November, reports
emerged that Shoresh Heydari, a pharmacist in the city of Bukan in West
Azerbaijan Province, had been arrested. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network said
Heydari had offered medical tips to protesters on his Instagram page. Another
source said the pharmacist had also treated protesters.
In October, security
forces in Tehran used tear gas to prevent a protest by health workers, who were
calling for an end to the state crackdown and the misuse of ambulances for
holding and transferring detained protesters.
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