Open letter to Iran authorities-Dec2022
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WORLD MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
ASSOCIATION MEDICALE MONDIALE
ASOCIACION MEDICA MUNDIAL
Centre International de Bureaux
Immeuble A “Keynes” Website : www.wma.net Postal Address :
13, chemin du Levant Telephone : (33) 4 50 40 75 75 Boîte Postale 63
01210 FERNEY-VOLTAIRE Fax : (33) 4 50 40 59 37 01210 FERNEY-VOLTAIRE Cedex
France E-mail address : wma@wma.net France
OPEN LETTER
H.E. Ayatollah Dr Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Presidency
Tehran, Iran
info_leader@leader.ir
infopack@irimlsa.ir
8 December 2022
Your Excellency,
I am writing to you on behalf of the World Medical Association (WMA), the global federation of National
Medical Associations representing millions of physicians worldwide, acting for the advancement of good
practice, medical ethics and medical accountability internationally.
We wrote to you already last month to denounce the alarming rate of violence against health personnel in Iran
since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September. The situation is deteriorating critically with massive
oppression, killings and the use of the death penalty to defeat popular uprising.
We have been informed of the case of Dr. Hamid Ghareh Hasanlou and his wife sentenced to death for
participating in a protester’s funeral. The couple were beaten, with critical injuries for Dr. Ghareh Hasanlou.
He needs immediate surgery.
We are profoundly shocked to hear that an increasing number of health professionals are threatened, arrested,
and tortured in Iran, just because they do their work. According to the ethical rules of our profession, physicians
have an obligation to treat those wounded or ill, without any other consideration. Likewise, prisoners must
receive the necessary medical care by a health professional, without influence from the authorities.
Standing in solidarity with our Iranian colleagues, we reiterate our demand for safe working conditions for
physicians and other health personnel in the pursuit of their mission as well as full access to health care to all
those in need.
We call for an immediate and unconditional end of violence and to the establishment of a moratorium on all
executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Osahon Enabulele
President of the World Medical Association