PARIS, France – Hospitals are no longer places of safety as Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protests impacts all aspects of life, rights groups say, wiht authorities arresting wounded protesters and even the medics who treat them.
activists accuse security forces of killing thousands of people and wounding more by directly firing on protesters,often with birdshot that can leave metal pellets lodged in the body until hygienically extracted by a professional.
But rights groups say authorities have raided hospitals searching for people with wounds that suggest they were involved in protests.At least five doctors have simultaneously occurring been arrested for treating them, according to the World health Association.
Amnesty International said security forces had “arrested protesters receiving treatment in hospitals,” adding it had received information that medical staff in central Isfahan province had been ordered to notify authorities about patients with injuries from gunshots and shotgun pellets.
The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said it “has documented cases in which security forces raided hospitals to identify and arrest protesters injured during demonstrations.”
In an apparent response to the charges, Iran’s health ministry this week urged those injured in the protests to “not worry” about going to the hospital and not to treat themselves at home.
According to the Tasnim news agency, Mohammad Raeeszadeh, head of the medical Council of Iran, said Friday that “only a very limited number” of medical personnel had been arrested over the protests, without indicating why they were held.
“There are no reports of anyone being arrested for seeing patients or performing their professional duties,” he added.
‘Raiding medical facilities’
Sajad Rahimi, 36, from Iran’s Gulf island of Qeshm, was badly wounded after security forces shot at him when he joined a protest in the southern province of Fars at the peak of the movement on January 9, according to Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights.
But, fearing he coudl be shot dead by security forces in a “coup de grace,” he asked friends not to take
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