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Canadian doctors raise alarm as Iranian healthcare workers targeted by regime
Story by Negar Mojtahedi • Yesterday
Iranian hospitals and clinics have become the latest battleground in ongoing protests against the regime.
Tehran physician Dr. Aida Rostami was allegedly killed by Iranian regime forces for treating patients injured in anti-government protests. Her family says her body showed gruesome signs of torture.
“There are informants. Are they your so-called patients? Are they your colleagues, managers?” said Montreal resident Dr. Homa Fathi.
Read more:
Iranian-Canadians call on MPs to take a stand against regime’s deadly crackdown
Fathi, a former dentist in Iran, is referring to undercover officers of the Islamic Republic who often visit public hospital emergency departments searching for people injured while fighting for their freedoms on the streets – and the doctors treating them.
Iranian healthcare professionals are putting their lives at risk and facing death to help treat them.
The regime’s security forces, she said, are demanding names and details of anyone seeking treatment for wounds that could have been received in demonstrations.
Video: Canadian doctors make plea to protect Iranian healthcare professionals
Fathi, in conjunction with her sources inside the country, have created a database to track Iranian healthcare workers arrested, kidnapped and killed by the regime.
“We are sure of the death of five healthcare professionals. Two doctors, one nurse and one medical student. Apart from these healthcare professionals, there are a lot who have been arrested," Fathi said.
"So far, I have the list of 19 healthcare professions arrested. I have the list of 21 healthcare students who have also been arrested."
Iranians wounded by the Islamic Republic’s forces avoid treatment at hospitals for fear of being detained, prosecuted or killed. Many medics are defying the Islamic Republic and treating them either at home or at undisclosed locations.
Read more:
‘Silence is not the answer’: Iranian-Canadians horrified by first-known execution
Vancouver physician Dr. Katayoun Rahnavardi and a network of doctors throughout Canada are trying to help amplify the voices of medics in Iran whose lives are in danger for fulfilling an international oath.
Rahnavardi and her colleagues are writing letters and posting to social media to share the stories, names and photos of those workers, and taking part in local rallies to keep the issue in the spotlight.
Canadian creates database of Iranian healthcare professionals targeted
“Everything about what is happening looks and sounds so unbelievable," Rahnavardi said.
"All of these healthcare workers were not protesting when they got arrested or kidnapped. It’s only because they were doing their job to provide medical care to the patients."
She says she had started off with demands not to arrest Iranian healthcare professionals for doing their job but now it has escalated to “don’t kill them, don’t torture them, don’t kidnap them.”
Read more:
‘Oppressions and injustice’: Canadians want fair trial for imprisoned Iranian philanthropists
One well-known case is the killing of 36-year-old Tehran physician Dr. Aida Rostami. She treated demonstrators in secret.
Rostami disappeared on Dec. 12 after a Tehran hospital shift. When her family called the police, they claimed she had died in a car crash.
But according to sources in Iran, Rostami had injuries to her genitalia, and had one of her eyes pulled out. When her family reportedly tracked her body down at the morgue, her body was covered in bruises and showed signs of torture. She was reportedly killed by the regime.
Rahnavardi says Iranian medics are treating injuries of demonstrators who were shot in the eyes, breasts and genitals.
“Over 400 cases of eyes have been shot and removed after the injury. There are documents about that,” Rahnavardi said.
Even during the World Wars, an unspoken rule was that medics were not to be touched.
Doing so today is considered a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
Read more:
Iranian-born Canadian fears for his friends in Iranian prison where he spent 11 years
The dangers facing Iranian doctors have been recognized by medical associations across European and in North America, and the Canadian Medical Association released a statement calling on the Islamic Republic to let doctors do their jobs without interference.
The British Medical Association also released a statement calling on the regime to “cease persecution of health professionals” who treat those injured by the Islamic Republic’s forces, and the World Medical Association is demanding the immediate and unconditional end to violence against Iranian healthcare professionals.
“This is an issue of humanity. It’s my duty, my responsibility as a mother, as a woman, as a human being and as a doctor to be the voice of people who are trusting me, who don’t have help, who don’t have a voice," Rahnavardi said.
"I want everybody to follow their stories and try to provide support."
Video: Iran schoolchildren reportedly killed for protesting
Story by Negar Mojtahedi • Yesterday
Iranian hospitals and clinics have become the latest battleground in ongoing protests against the regime.
Tehran physician Dr. Aida Rostami was allegedly killed by Iranian regime forces for treating patients injured in anti-government protests. Her family says her body showed gruesome signs of torture.
“There are informants. Are they your so-called patients? Are they your colleagues, managers?” said Montreal resident Dr. Homa Fathi.
Read more:
Iranian-Canadians call on MPs to take a stand against regime’s deadly crackdown
Fathi, a former dentist in Iran, is referring to undercover officers of the Islamic Republic who often visit public hospital emergency departments searching for people injured while fighting for their freedoms on the streets – and the doctors treating them.
Iranian healthcare professionals are putting their lives at risk and facing death to help treat them.
The regime’s security forces, she said, are demanding names and details of anyone seeking treatment for wounds that could have been received in demonstrations.
Video: Canadian doctors make plea to protect Iranian healthcare professionals
Fathi, in conjunction with her sources inside the country, have created a database to track Iranian healthcare workers arrested, kidnapped and killed by the regime.
“We are sure of the death of five healthcare professionals. Two doctors, one nurse and one medical student. Apart from these healthcare professionals, there are a lot who have been arrested," Fathi said.
"So far, I have the list of 19 healthcare professions arrested. I have the list of 21 healthcare students who have also been arrested."
Iranians wounded by the Islamic Republic’s forces avoid treatment at hospitals for fear of being detained, prosecuted or killed. Many medics are defying the Islamic Republic and treating them either at home or at undisclosed locations.
Read more:
‘Silence is not the answer’: Iranian-Canadians horrified by first-known execution
Vancouver physician Dr. Katayoun Rahnavardi and a network of doctors throughout Canada are trying to help amplify the voices of medics in Iran whose lives are in danger for fulfilling an international oath.
Rahnavardi and her colleagues are writing letters and posting to social media to share the stories, names and photos of those workers, and taking part in local rallies to keep the issue in the spotlight.
Canadian creates database of Iranian healthcare professionals targeted
“Everything about what is happening looks and sounds so unbelievable," Rahnavardi said.
"All of these healthcare workers were not protesting when they got arrested or kidnapped. It’s only because they were doing their job to provide medical care to the patients."
She says she had started off with demands not to arrest Iranian healthcare professionals for doing their job but now it has escalated to “don’t kill them, don’t torture them, don’t kidnap them.”
Read more:
‘Oppressions and injustice’: Canadians want fair trial for imprisoned Iranian philanthropists
One well-known case is the killing of 36-year-old Tehran physician Dr. Aida Rostami. She treated demonstrators in secret.
Rostami disappeared on Dec. 12 after a Tehran hospital shift. When her family called the police, they claimed she had died in a car crash.
But according to sources in Iran, Rostami had injuries to her genitalia, and had one of her eyes pulled out. When her family reportedly tracked her body down at the morgue, her body was covered in bruises and showed signs of torture. She was reportedly killed by the regime.
Rahnavardi says Iranian medics are treating injuries of demonstrators who were shot in the eyes, breasts and genitals.
“Over 400 cases of eyes have been shot and removed after the injury. There are documents about that,” Rahnavardi said.
Even during the World Wars, an unspoken rule was that medics were not to be touched.
Doing so today is considered a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
Read more:
Iranian-born Canadian fears for his friends in Iranian prison where he spent 11 years
The dangers facing Iranian doctors have been recognized by medical associations across European and in North America, and the Canadian Medical Association released a statement calling on the Islamic Republic to let doctors do their jobs without interference.
The British Medical Association also released a statement calling on the regime to “cease persecution of health professionals” who treat those injured by the Islamic Republic’s forces, and the World Medical Association is demanding the immediate and unconditional end to violence against Iranian healthcare professionals.
“This is an issue of humanity. It’s my duty, my responsibility as a mother, as a woman, as a human being and as a doctor to be the voice of people who are trusting me, who don’t have help, who don’t have a voice," Rahnavardi said.
"I want everybody to follow their stories and try to provide support."
Video: Iran schoolchildren reportedly killed for protesting
Story by Nahayat Tizhoosh • Yesterday
This month, a list was shared with CBC News from inside Iran, of the names of protesters who face execution by regime authorities.
A photo obtained by AFP outside Iran on Sept. 21, shows Iranian demonstrators taking to the streets of Tehran during a protest days after an Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini died in police custody. Over 18,000 people have so far been detained by the Islamic Republic since the start of the anti-regime protests in September, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.© AFP/Getty Images
In consultation with multiple activists and by accessing reporting by various human rights groups, CBC News can name 90 individuals detained in Iran as being at high risk.
According to information available, at least 19 have been sentenced to death, 65 could face execution and six have been handed lengthy and uncertain prison terms.
The vast majority of these individuals are accused by the regime of "waging war against God" and "corruption on earth" — crimes punishable by death under the Islamic Republic's sharia law.
Protests in Iran erupted in September after a young Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini died in police custody. The 22-year-old had been arrested by the regime's so-called morality police, allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly, part of the regime's strict Islamic dress code. Her family says she was beaten to death.
Activists shine spotlight on detained protesters
Human rights activists tell CBC News the need to identify and publicize the names of the detained protesters is urgent.
They say the attention and public pressure on the authorities in Iran, will help save the lives of many who are voiceless.
Across Europe dozens of politicians have taken on sponsorship of the vast majority of the names listed.
Many parliamentarians and senators in countries like Germany, Austria and France are amplifying the stories of those who have been detained and are lobbying Iranian ambassadors for their release.
Related video: San Diegans protest as Iranian government turns to public executions (KGTV San Diego, CA)
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Over 18,000 people have so far been detained by the Islamic Republic since the start of the anti-regime protests in September, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Of those, 506 had been killed — including 69 children and teenagers — as of Dec. 21, 2022.
In less than a month, Iranian authorities arrested, charged and carried out two known executions of Mohsen Shekari and Majid Reza Rahnavard.
Treatment of unidentified prisoners
Iranian-Canadian activist Golsa Golestaneh, who focuses on fact-checking and propaganda, says the two men were "executed in silence" because the regime is often able to "distort the truth" by amplifying false charges and convictions of detained prisoners.
Golestaneh is the spokesperson of an advocacy group called Waves (امواج), made up of young Iranians in and outside Iran who want to have a say in the political opposition to the regime.
At least 19 protesters sentenced to death
"It is extremely important to continue emphasizing the unpredictability of the Islamic regime while recognizing the importance of accuracy, to the extent possible, to minimize the chances of another silent murder."
When it comes to the treatment of unidentified prisoners in Iran, Masoud Kazemi, a journalist based in Turkey, says the regime has a "dark history and horrific track record."
"Detained protesters who are unidentified are subjected to more torture and suffering than others," Kazemi said. "And they are also given lengthier prison terms and are sometimes also sentenced with execution."
65 protesters could face execution
Activists caution that executions are just one of the ways the regime kills prisoners. Golestaneh says that even when prisoners in Iran aren't facing executions, their lives are still at risk.
"The tortures are severe and several people have been killed under it. Some committed suicide or their families were forced to say they've committed suicide inside prison," she said.
Kurdish human rights activist Soran Mansournia, who works on identifying prisoners and those killed by the regime, is urging families to come forward and publish the names of their loved ones.
6 Protestors given lengthy prison sentences
"In the last two months, at least seven people from Iranian Kurdistan died under the torture of security forces of the Islamic Republic," Mansournia said.
"Many prisoners' lives are in danger and we don't even know their names. I ask all their families to make public the abduction of their loved ones."
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