US state department calls for the release of all detained healthcare workers as at least one arrested surgeon reported to be at risk of execution

Doctors are being arrested in Iran for helping save the lives of some of the tens of thousands injured during Iran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests, with at least one surgeon now at risk of being sentenced to death.

The arrests and death sentence are part of a campaign of “revenge”, say human rights groups, after healthcare workers and doctors refused to ignore the plight of badly injured protesters shot or stabbed at close range, and in some cases set up makeshift treatment centres.

An Iranian surgeon, Alireza Golchini, 52, from the central city of Qazvin, has been charged with “moharebeh” (waging war against God), which can carry the death penalty, according to the Norway-based rights group Hengaw. The US state department yesterday called for his release.

  • Mrkawfee@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    9
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    I’ll get downvoted for this but it needs to be said that Western media can’t be trusted on it’s reporting in Iran.

    There is a major psyops campaign in Europe and the US to manufacture consent for regime change.

    • perestroika@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      A sincere question: are you new to issues related to Iran? Do you not know beforehand what the regime convicts people of, and what the legal system currently looks like?

      A bit of background:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_system_of_the_Islamic_Republic_of_Iran

      Hadd crimes are considered to be “claims against God”, and they are punishable by a mandatory, fixed sentence that was laid down in the Koran and Hadith. They are very rarely applied in practice, because they require a high standard of proof and if the person is repentant or if there is any reasonable doubt, it may not be carried out. Two witnesses or a confession are required for a conviction. For sexual crimes, 4 witnesses are required.[citation needed]. Others forms of evidence (such as video evidence) are admitted for hadd punishment, except in cases of consensual sexual crimes. They are:

      Waging war against God (moharebeh) and spreading corruption in Earth (mofsede-fel-arz): judge has option of 1) death penalty; 2) crucifixion for three days; 3) amputation of right hand and left foot; 4) exile/imprisonment

      This crime is for somebody who used a weapon to strike fear and spread disorder, for example through armed robbery, kidnapping, terrorism/violent armed crimes, rape, and gang violence. This charge has been used in Iran as a political charge/treason/disrupting stability of Islamic Republic, and belonging to anti-regime opposition groups.

      There is nothing new about an opposition supporter risking a death sentence through a “war against God” or “corruption on Earth” accusation.

      Last I heard, a rapper called Tataloo (not sure if imprisoned or executed) was sentenced to death for “corruption on Earth”. But I grew up in the decade when one could read news about Salman Rushdie fleeing abroad since grand ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini simply asked every Muslim to kill him if possible. For publishing poetry. This led to several people actually trying, and Rushie was stabbed last time in 2022. Also see: Satanic Verses controversy.

      I hope this brief introduction of the justice system of Iran helps you assess the realism of various news. My last encounter with their justice system was a few months ago, when I helped raise money to pay blood money for a child bride, who had been sentenced to death for killing her violent husband. The death sentence was avoidable for rich people, but she was poor, so instead of walking free, it was foreseeable that she’d be hanged. So Iranians collected money to save her and succeeded. I’m not an Iranian and I just helped a bit, and my money wasn’t needed in the end. But I kind of know what justice in Iran looks like.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        19 hours ago

        You guys are both correct, btw… The person you replied to is not wrong for having healthy skepticism though.

      • Mrkawfee@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        20 hours ago

        Not sure what this has to do with the regime change psyops campaign?

        How many regimes that America is allies with inflict human rights abuses on their people? Do you know what the Savak did under the Shah?

        Do you know what justice looks like for Palestinians in israel? Which is feted by the West and given weapons to.commit a genocide. Funny how no one is talking about air strikes gainst them

    • earlstilt@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      I’d be interested to hear what your down-voters think that western media can be trusted on?

      • Mrkawfee@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        20 hours ago

        They can be trusted to be stenographers for neocons, apparently.

        I’m getting fed up with Lemmy. The Zionists and their bots have moved in en masse. Its the reason I left Reddit.

        Its depressing seeing the pearl clutching liberals who sat through israels genocide suddenly becoming deeply concerned at a Mossad engineered insurrection.

        The Jewish supremacists are right to laugh at us. We are sheep. https://youtu.be/dKie9MeE9rc

        • perestroika@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          16 hours ago

          This reply got me curious and I browsed your history a bit, finding this gem:

          These “protests” are a CIA Mossad collaboration. Down vote me all you want but it’s true.

          I will now also downvote you, thank you very much.

          Rebellions, near-revolutions and actual revolutions occur for various reasons around the world. If you suspect external manipulation as the primary cause every time, you will be wrong most of time.

          If you suspect external manipulation as a contributing factor at some times, you may be right.

          People have ability to organize on their own (sometimes poorly and with catastrophic defeat as a result). They can be dead wrong about their chances of success, or know their chances and try anyway.

          The biggest external influence in this case appears to have been Trump’s promise of stepping in to protect the protesters (their mistake: they may have believed him) and his claim that “help is on the way” when they were already practically supressed. These words cost many lives.

          Israel is, of course, intensely interested in the future of Iran, as their most dangerous regional opponent. But Israel cannot force the government of Iran to make so bad economic decisions that traders on a market close their shops and riot.

          • Mrkawfee@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            13 hours ago

            Lol what a facile response. Even Pompeo was dumb enough to admit that Mossad was orchestrating these riots.

            https://the307.substack.com/p/why-is-mike-pompeo-and-the-mossad

            Iran has been under crippling economic sanctions since Trump.was first brought into the White House by Zionists like Adelson. Scott Bessent was bragging recently about how they’ve used “statecraft” to destroy their economy. Including shorting the Rial which was what sparked these protests in the first place before being subverted by CIA/Mossad

            https://youtu.be/ds8ao4L2H_0

            Why do you think Iran, the most sanctioned country on earth had 50,000 Starlink terminals in the country. More than Ukraine. I guess thats just a coincidence.

            Believe what you want. You’ll find out soon enough how you’ve been scammed into another quagmire in West Asia

      • perestroika@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        I’m not one of his downvoters, but I think he vastly overestimates the capability of a psyop to produce articles in The Guardian. These people know various ways of checking a claim, and they don’t typically hurry, but lag behind other news outlets.

        And I think he’s not well informed about what life in Iran has been like since 1979.

        As for manufacturing consent: Trump has shown well that he doesn’t care about consent. It may eventually become a reason for his downfall, but rational arguments and credible evidence are not things the current US administration deals in.

        As for the matter of whether military intervention could help someone in Iran, or help more than hurt - I don’t know. Military interventions haven’t previously revived the dead. If the majority of protersters were killed, they cannot be helped. If the majority went into hiding, they can be helped, but it may not work as intended.

        There is also no reason to suspect Trump of genuinely wanting to help them. He has other motivations. If he was a humanitarian, he’d have ordered an immediate strike at Iran’s government communications and unmanned weapons drops for protesters when the massacre was ongoing. He considered something and intelligence indicators were in the red, but did nothing.

        • Mrkawfee@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          17 hours ago

          If you do some background reading you will quickly realize Trump is effectly the Manchurian candidate for Netanyahu. Bankrolled by arch Zionists like the Adelsons. Since he came into office in 2016 he has been climbing the escalation ladder for regime change with Iran.

          • JCPOA exit
          • “maximum pressure”. Massive economic sanctions that have wiped out roughly 50% of GDP, making Iran the most sanctioned nation on Earth
          • assassinations (Qassem Soleimani, nuclear scientists), sabotage
          • coordinated protest narratives
          • constant threat of military escalation, and of course
          • a decapitation strike by Israel last June

          Even before then Bush II labeled Iran part of the “axis of evil” and primed for regime change after Iraq.

          Look into Israeli and US policy papers like the Oded Plan (1982) the “Clean Break” (1996) and the Brookings Institute Paper “Which Path to Persia?” in 2009. These deal with the dismemberment of states in the Middle East along sectarian lines to strengthen Israel. The last one deals.explicitly with pathways to regime change in Iran.

          If you dont understand the context you will only ever take these flashpoints at face value when they are being used to manufacture consent for wars of aggression.