WHO chief urges Iran to stop attacks on healthcare as Tehran cracks down on protesters

Human rights organisations say that they have been able to verify at least six cases of healthcare workers being arrested or detained for providing treatment to protesters.

“I call for the release of any health worker in detention,” said Dr Tedros.

Iran’s security forces are said to be present in hospitals and monitoring patient records to identify those involved in the protests, according to BBC reports.

On Thursday, the European Union officially designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, placing it on the same level as groups including Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

The IRGC is estimated to have killed anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 protesters in recent weeks.

HRANA, a US-based rights group, has documented 5,937 deaths, including 214 security personnel, while Iranian officials say the official figure is 3,117.

An intensive communications blackout – which began on January 8 – has made verification of the exact death toll all but impossible, say human rights groups.

While Iranians now have sporadic access to the internet, it remains challenging to communicate with people inside the country for fear of retaliation.

Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot, described the regime’s crackdown as “the most violent repression in Iran’s modern history” and said there should be “no impunity for the crimes committed.”

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