Summons, threats, and dismissal of doctors who spoke about coronavirus statistics
Dr. Rahim Yousefpour, an internal medicine specialist in the Iranian city of Saqqez, said in an interview with the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that he was released on bail of 500 million tomans after being summoned to the Third Branch of the Saqqez Revolutionary Court.
Mr. Yousef Pour told the campaign that he has been accused of spreading lies and disturbing public opinion due to his reporting on the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the city of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province.
In recent days, three government officials in Iran who had rejected the official statistics provided by the Islamic Republic have been dismissed, and some doctors in various cities in Iran have come under pressure.
Iranian media reported on Saturday, April 13, the dismissal of Qodrat Akhavan Akbari, the president of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, and Borna News Agency described Mr. Akbari’s dismissal as “unexpected.” Before him, Esmaeil Farzaneh, the head of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ardabil, had been dismissed. In an interview with Ardabil Provincial Broadcasting Service, he said that “the actual number of people infected with the coronavirus is higher than the announced number.”
Dr. Farzaneh had said that "the medical staff is extremely tired and a number of people have been infected, and now Imam Khomeini Hospital, which is dedicated to critically ill patients, is completely full. If a new critically ill patient arrives, we will definitely face a problem and the equipment is not responsive. People must comply. No one is safe."
Dr. Hassan Adeli, vice president of Qom University of Medical Sciences, is another official who has been dismissed after being interviewed about the number of people infected with the coronavirus in recent days.
Dr. Rahim Yousefpour, an internal medicine specialist in the city of Saqqez, Kurdistan, Iran, said in an interview with the Campaign that he was summoned to the Revolutionary Court and charged for informing about the statistics of people infected with the coronavirus. Mr. Yousefpour told the Campaign: “I had warned on my personal Instagram more than a month and a half ago that the statistics of the coronavirus in the city of Saqqez were in four figures. Unfortunately, the authorities ignored this and for each Instagram post I received a summons, meaning 8 summons were sent to me. On April 6, I appeared in the third branch of the Saqqez Revolutionary Court of Inquiry, where I was charged with spreading lies and disturbing public opinion, even though I had stated the truth for the public’s awareness.”
Dr. Yousef Pour told the campaign: “The offices and documents of Imam Khomeini Hospital and the Social Security of Saqqez are available, and my warning was that we do not have any kits at all and our diagnosis is based on CT scans, and based on the CT scans that have been performed, more than a thousand people are positive for Corona. Of course, thank God, at least people in Saqqez complied during this time, and the Corona statistics in the city of Saqqez have found a linear trend and we have stopped increasing. But at the cost of doctors, nurses, and services, that is, medical staff, being involved.”
Mr. Yousef Pour announced the issuance of a 500 million toman bail and told the campaign: “We were released on bail and are serving. But after that, they have called me several times and threatened that if you talk to foreign networks, we will deal with you. The phone number is not working and they say we are from the IRGC’s intelligence and don’t collect or give statistics anymore. We are working honestly without facilities and they call and threaten us like this. The truth is that I don’t feel safe and that is why I am giving interviews so that people are informed.”
In Isfahan province, a knowledgeable source has informed the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran of the dismissal of Dr. Nasrollah Sorani, an anesthesiologist from Isa Bin Maryam Hospital, for providing information about the number of coronavirus cases in the province.
Nemat Ahmadi, the lawyer representing Dr. Sorani, said in an interview with the Human Rights Campaign in Iran that Dr. Sorani had announced the coronavirus disease on February 11, and for this reason, he has been threatened many times and a complaint has been filed against him, but for now, this complaint and case have remained silent.
Mr. Ahmadi told the campaign about the legal basis for such behavior: “We have a law that was passed on Khordad 11, 1944, a few months before the end of Reza Shah’s term, entitled the Law on the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted and Communicable Diseases. According to this law, anyone who knows that they are infected with a communicable disease and does not inform the other party and through him the other party becomes infected and the infected person complains to the judicial authorities will be sentenced to imprisonment. The health department is also obliged to introduce a number of these patients to the health department every month and doctors are obliged to immediately introduce them to the health department whenever they observe one of the communicable diseases. According to Article 22 of this law, persons who obstruct the implementation of health regulations or cause the spread of one of the communicable diseases due to negligence are sentenced to imprisonment and a fine. This means that if a doctor does not inform, he will be prosecuted, not when he did inform.”
Nemat Ahmadi also referred to Article 688 of the Islamic Penal Code and told the campaign: “According to this article, any action that is considered a threat to public health, such as contaminating drinking water or distributing contaminated drinking water, unsanitary disposal of human and animal waste and waste materials, dumping toxic substances in rivers, littering in the streets, and unauthorized slaughter of livestock, unauthorized use of raw sewage or wastewater from sewage treatment plants for agricultural purposes, is prohibited. If the perpetrators are not subject to more severe punishment according to specific laws, they will be sentenced to a fine and imprisonment of up to one year. Determining that the said action is a threat to public health and environmental pollution, as well as declaring a crime as appropriate, is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, the Environmental Organization, and the Veterinary Organization.”
The lawyer told the campaign: “We only have these two laws, both of which say that if I have a disease and I don’t notify the health care provider and other people take advantage of my disease, it is even tantamount to murder, meaning I should be punished at the level of a murderer. And if someone incurs expenses due to my disease, I should pay for it. And if the doctor doesn’t inform, the doctor will be prosecuted. But if a doctor says that we have such a disease and the system wants to deal with him, we don’t have such a law at all.”
Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign
