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Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing.
Protesters shot, treated in secret as security forces patrol hospitals
A woman identified only as Tara described being fired upon by Iranian security forces during a protest in Isfahan earlier this month. She and her friend were struck by birdshot after pleading with armed officers not to shoot.
"We fell to the ground. Our clothes were soaked in blood," Tara told the BBC. Fearing arrest, they avoided hospitals and instead took refuge in a stranger's home until dawn. A trusted doctor later removed some of the pellets, but others remain lodged in their bodies.
Healthcare workers risk arrest to treat wounded in private
With hospitals under surveillance, injured protesters have turned to underground networks of doctors and volunteers. Nima, a Tehran surgeon, said he worked nonstop for 96 hours, operating on young demonstrators with gunshot wounds to vital organs and limbs.
"Our clothes, our underwear-everything was drenched in blood. We cried as we operated."
Nima, Tehran surgeon
He described treating a man whose face was shattered by a bullet that entered his chin and exited through his upper jaw. Many patients required amputations, leaving them permanently disabled.
Eye injuries surge as security forces target protesters
Farabi Eye Hospital in Tehran reported treating 700 patients with severe eye injuries by 10 January, nearly all admitted after 8 January. Saeed, whose friend was struck by birdshot in Arak, said around 200 protesters with eye injuries were being treated at one Tehran hospital alone.
Nurses smuggled patients through staff elevators to avoid detection. "The surgeon didn't charge us," Saeed said, but medical records now omit references to gunshot wounds to evade security forces monitoring hospital data.
Hospitals become battlegrounds as arrests escalate
Sina took his brother to a Tehran hospital after he was shot in the legs. "It was like a battlefield-no blankets, no medical kits," he said. Forced to use their real IDs for insurance, they now fear a raid on their home.
In smaller cities, reports indicate security forces have abducted patients from hospitals. Human rights groups say at least five doctors and a volunteer first responder have been arrested, including Dr. Alireza Golchini, a Qazvin surgeon beaten during his arrest and charged with "moharebeh"-a crime punishable by death.
Conflicting death tolls and official denials
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has documented 6,301 deaths, including 5,925 protesters, 112 children, and 214 government-affiliated individuals. Another 11,000 are reported seriously wounded. Iran's government acknowledges 3,100 deaths but claims most were security personnel or bystanders attacked by "rioters."
Health Ministry spokesman Hossein Shokri said 13,000 operations were performed during the unrest, adding that 3,000 protesters had recently sought hospital care after initially treating themselves at home.
