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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/02/25/opinion/iran-protests-doctors.html
40 Iranian Doctors and Nurses Describe a Massacre
(New York Times) Roxana Saberi - In January, at the peak of the violent crackdown on anti-regime protests in Iran, a medical worker in Rasht suddenly found his trauma center overwhelmed with hundreds of injured protesters. Many were struck by multiple pellets or bullets targeting their heads, necks, chests, femurs and abdomens. "They were shooting to kill, absolutely," he said. After four days, he finally went home and began compiling 11 gigabytes of X-rays, CT scans and medical records, later sending them to us. Former UN war crimes prosecutor Payam Akhavan believes the death toll could be in the tens of thousands, based on reports by a network of doctors in Iran collecting hospital records. "This is not just the worst mass killing in the contemporary history of Iran," said Akhavan, now a human rights lawyer and a co-founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. "It is one of the worst mass killings in contemporary world history." Many of the accounts we received from the doctors and nurses inside Iran were of children under 18 who were injured or killed. At least 209 children were killed in the protests, according to Shiva Amelirad, who represents a network of teachers' unions. "There is a consistent pattern in many documented cases indicating that children were shot in the head," she said. Nearly 54,000 Iranian demonstrators have been arrested, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.