Ransom for the Dead: How the Ayatollahs Are Profiting from Their Own Killing Spree
A UN expert has revealed that Iranian security forces are kidnapping wounded protesters directly from hospital beds and extorting families for thousands of dollars to return the bodies of the dead.
United Nations expert Mai Sato has issued a harrowing report detailing the systematic violation of medical neutrality and human rights by the Iranian regime. According to Sato, security forces have been raiding hospitals across the country, forcibly removing wounded protesters from their beds and taking them to unknown locations. This practice, which she defines as a "grave violation of the right to medical care under international law," has left families in a state of double agony, unable to protect their injured relatives or even recover the bodies of those who have died. Furthermore, the regime has reportedly turned the death of its citizens into a source of revenue, demanding exorbitant "funeral fees" from grieving parents who are already struggling under the weight of a historic economic crisis.
Abductions from the Operating Room
The testimony provided by Sato is supported by frontline medical workers who have risked their lives to speak out. A doctor in the city of Rasht described a scene of absolute chaos where dozens of patients suffering from gunshot wounds were operated on, only to be seized by the Revolutionary Guard immediately afterward. "Dozens of patients with gunshot wounds were operated on in my hospital, and then members of the Revolutionary Guard came and took them, and since then it is not known what happened to them," the doctor reported. This pattern has been repeated in cities across Iran, where hospitals have become hunting grounds for security forces looking to identify and "disappear" those who participated in the war for reform.
Families arriving at hospitals to check on their loved ones often find empty beds and a wall of silence from state authorities. This state-sponsored kidnapping is intended to both instill fear in the population and prevent the true number of casualties from being documented by medical staff. By labeling wounded civilians as "rioters" or "terrorists," the state justifies the removal of their basic right to healthcare and legal protection.
The Business of Death
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the UN report is the systematic extortion of families whose children were killed in the streets. Sato noted that families are frequently required to pay between $5,000 and $7,000 to receive the bodies of their loved ones for burial. In an economy where the currency has collapsed, this represents an impossible sum for many, effectively allowing the state to hold the dead as collateral. Sato criticized this practice as adding "extortion to grief," noting that it is part of a broader effort to bankrupt and break the spirit of the families who oppose the clerical leadership. The UN expert also condemned the regime's attempts to rebrand an "organic and local movement" as foreign-sponsored terrorism, an excuse used to sanitize the most brutal crackdown since the 1979 Revolution.