Iran | Crackdown on Health Personnel and Volunteers for Treating Injured Protesters

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 25 January 2026: Newly obtained reports show a new wave of repressive measures have been targeted against those who provided medical assistance to injured protesters.

Security forces have raided homes and clinics, violently arresting doctors and volunteers and damaging or destroying their property.

According to various reports received by IHRNGO, security forces have been cracking down on health personnel and volunteers who have fulfilled their humanitarian duty by helping treat wounded protesters.

Security agencies appear to be aiming to intimidate the public and obstruct treatment for injured protesters by arresting doctors and raiding makeshift medical shelters.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “A doctor in Ardabil has been arrested in recent days for treating individuals injured during the Ardabil protests.”

Information received by IHRNGO indicates that the situation in Ardabil on 8 and 9 January 2026 was extremely critical, and it is estimated that at least 50 people may have been killed in the city.

Another informed source told IHRNGO: “At least four doctors have been arrested for helping injured protesters, and there is no information about their whereabouts or condition. A volunteer first responder named Kh. M. around 45 years old, who had turned his home into a shelter for the injured, was arrested on 14 January after security forces raided his house. Mr Minaei had sheltered and treated more than 20 wounded people in his home. Two of the injured later died there because of the severity of their wounds.”

The source added: “He was taken away in an extremely brutal manner and was severely beaten. The agents smashed all the windows, destroyed his home and completely wrecked his car, a Peugeot Pars.”

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, January 25, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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