Since the outbreak of protests following the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, dozens of health professionals are reported to have been detained for carrying out their ethical responsibilities to deliver medical treatment to anyone in need. In a letter to Iranian authorities, the Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies urges the authorities to end harassment, intimidation, and other types of reprisals against health professionals and to release anyone who has been arbitrarily detained.
The letter:
Stockholm 4 May 2023
Your Excellency,
We, the Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies, write respectfully to express our deepest concern about credible reports of the targeting of health professionals and governmental interference with the provision of medical care in Iran since the outbreak of protests following the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini.
U.N. human rights experts have documented and condemned the crackdown on protestors by Iranian security forces that have included excessive use of force, killings, arbitrary detentions, and torture. Along with reports of alarming numbers of protestors detained and killed, we understand that dozens of health professionals have been detained for carrying out their ethical responsibilities to deliver medical treatment to anyone in need. Our concern is heightened by reports that detainees have been subjected to harsh conditions and subjected to repeated interrogations, solitary confinement, torture, and ill-treatment. We understand that a number of medics in state custody are facing spurious national security-related charges for seeking to perform their medical duties.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has ratified both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. We thus respectfully call on you to guarantee the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, health, and humane treatment. We urge you to end harassment, intimidation, and other types of reprisals against health professionals and to release anyone who has been arbitrarily detained. In the interim, we ask that the conditions of detainees be brought into compliance with U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Finally, we urge that the Iranian government allow independent human rights experts into the country to investigate the human rights violations described above.
We thank you in advance, Your Excellency, for your attention to this important matter.
Respectfully yours,
Peter Pagin
Professor, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies
The Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies includes members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, the Swedish Academy and the Young Academy of Sweden.
