Under de pågående protesterna i Iran, som utbröt efter Mahsa (Jina) Aminis död, rapporteras om dussintals hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal som fängslats för att ha tagit sitt etiska ansvar och behandlat alla i behov av vård. I ett brev till iranska myndigheter uppmanar Akademiernas kommitté för mänskliga rättigheter att de ser till att trakasserier, hot och andra typer av repressalier mot vårdpersonal upphör.
Brevet i sin helhet:
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
Akademiernas kommitté för mänskliga rättigheter består av representanter från Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien, Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, Svenska Akademien och Sveriges unga akademi.
