Dr. Masoud Shirvani, head of the Iranian Association of Neurosurgeons, has formally called for the release of detained neurosurgeon Dr. Saber Dehghan in a letter addressed to the president of the Iran Medical Council.
In his letter, Shirvani emphasized that physicians are obligated to treat patients regardless of their political beliefs. He stressed that doctors, in accordance with medical ethics and the Hippocratic Oath, are committed to preserving human life without discrimination based on political affiliation, nationality, or race.
A journalist inside Iran wrote in a post on X on Friday that, according to colleagues of Dr. Dehghan, the neurosurgeon had been detained and that no information about his whereabouts or condition has been available for more than a month.
Following the January crackdown and reported killings, multiple accounts indicated that some doctors and medical staff were detained or assaulted by security forces while treating injured protesters, including inside medical facilities.
Iranian authorities, including Mohammad Raiszadeh, president of the Iran Medical Council, have repeatedly denied these reports. However, statements such as Shirvani’s letter suggest that members of the medical community may have faced consequences for providing medical care to protesters.
On January 31, 2026, Raiszadeh stated that 17 members of the Medical Council had encountered judicial or security-related issues, which were reviewed individually. He added that none of them had been detained solely for providing medical treatment and that there were no cases in which someone had been arrested simply for delivering care.
