Statement of solidarity with the Iranian people by health professionals
Since mid-September, protests and anti-regime uprisings led by women and youth have spread to all of Iran’s provinces and to more than 280 cities and 100 major universities. The protesters, chanting the rallying cry of “Down with Dictators, down with Khamenei,” seek to change the unelected religious dictatorship ruling Iran.
Four decades of repression, torture, and extrajudicial executions to quell the nationwide resistance has transferred Iran into a powder keg. The death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested in Tehran under the pretext of mal-veiling and killed because of police beatings sparked the explosion.
Brave women and youth in form of Resistance Units connected to Iran’ organized opposition are taking serious risks to play a vital role in sustaining these protests against the regime.
The regime’s repressive forces fire tear gas and live ammunition at the protesters and shut down the internet. More than 600 protesters killed have thus far been identified by the main opposition, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK). Some 60 children appear among those killed. More than 35,000 have been arrested since the beginning of the uprising.
In this context, the role of the hospitals and medical staff are life giving to the injured. However, the nursing staff, medical and paramedical, are constantly under threat from the authorities, in the very exercise of the care function.
Ayda Rostami, the 36-year-old Iranian doctor who in recent weeks treated injured protesters in Tehran who feared retaliation if they turned to the official health system, was killed under suspicious conditions.
Aylar Haghi, a medical student at the University of Tabriz, was murdered during the crackdown on protesters in Tabriz.
We, the undersigned, urge the United Nations, its member states, its international institute for health (WHO) and other international organizations to:
- Condemn in the strongest possible terms, harassment and killing of health professionals trying to stay loyal to their pledge to help the injured, guarantee the latter’s free access to those in need without being persecuted for such action,
- Hold authorities in charge of harassing medical staff to account, in international instances, for preventing vital help reaching those in dire need for it,
- Strongly condemn the killing and arrest of demonstrators in Iran and take urgent measures to stop this repression,
- Condition all diplomatic interaction with the Iranian regime to release of arrested demonstrators currently in prison.
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