Following the killing of protesters on the nights of Thursday 18 and Friday 19 Dey 1404 (January 2026), the Islamic Republic has entered a new phase of repression—one that no longer targets only protesters, but directly attacks doctors, medical workers, and hospitals. This escalation signals a deliberate crossing of the final humanitarian and legal red lines.
According to reports, a number of doctors and medical staff in various Iranian cities have been arrested solely for treating those wounded during the protests. The World Health Organization announced on Friday, 30 January, that at least five doctors have been detained and 50 medical responders injured. These figures represent only a fraction of the reality, much of which remains hidden under censorship and intimidation.
At the same time, substantial evidence shows that Islamic Republic forces have directly attacked hospitals as civilian facilities. In at least two documented cases, Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ilam and Sina Hospital in Tehran were raided by security forces. Reports indicate that some wounded individuals were not only killed in the streets, but were shot in the head while lying on hospital beds—an act that effectively eradicates the very notion of medical sanctuary.
Testimonies further reveal that many injured protesters avoided hospitals altogether out of fear of arrest or of receiving a so-called “final bullet.” They returned home with bullets still lodged in their bodies. Now, the very doctors who, despite these dangers, fulfilled their professional and moral duty to save lives are being arrested en masse and, in some cases, face the threat of death sentences.
Names such as Dr. Matin Moradian, Dr. Ameneh Soleimani, Dr. Alireza Golchini, Dr. Khosro Minai, and Dr. Shamsi Alizadeh represent only a few of the physicians targeted for the crime of saving human lives.
Under the Geneva Conventions and the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, hospitals, medical facilities, and healthcare personnel are protected from attack and persecution. Targeting these institutions and punishing doctors for providing medical care may constitute clear instances of crimes against humanity—particularly when carried out as part of a widespread, systematic, and state-directed campaign against civilians.
At this point, silence by the international community, human rights institutions, and democratic governments is not neutrality; it is indirect complicity in the continuation of these crimes. Attacks on hospitals and the execution or persecution of doctors represent a red line whose crossing demands an immediate, decisive, and practical international response.
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Free the doctors.
Stop these crimes.
The world must respond—now.
#IranMassacre
#CrimesAgainstHumanity
