(CNN) — Iranians wounded during protests are being seized at hospitals by members of an Islamic militia, an Amnesty International official told CNN.
“The Basijis are waiting for them,” said Banafsheh Akhlaghi, western regional director of the human rights group, referring to the government’s paramilitary arm that has cracked down on protesters during the violent aftermath of the June 12 presidential election.
Amnesty International has collected accounts from people who have left Iran and expatriates with relatives there who say the Basij has prohibited medical professionals from getting identification information from wounded demonstrators who check in, Akhlaghi said on Saturday. They are also not allowed to ask how the injuries happened, and relatives are hard pressed to find the wounded.
Once the patients are treated, the militia removes them from the hospital to an undisclosed location, she said.
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Updates:
8:21 am EDT, June 28th, 2009 — Powerful ex-President Rafsanjani remains quiet in election fallout
3:20 pm EDT, June 28th, 2009 — Rosett: Where’s The U.N. On Iran?
3:22 pm EDT, June 28th, 2009 — Phillips: The third stage for Iranian totalitarianism?
3:49 pm EDT, June 28th, 2009 — Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regime plots purge after Iran election protests
3:52 pm EDT, June 28th, 2009 — Crackdown in Iran Continues Focus on Foreigners
My main fear now is that many of the protestors are going to end up in unmarked graves. They need weapons to protect themselves and it’s up to the west to see that it happens. They have no other hope.
I expect that’s already happened, Jack. To echo Rosett… where is the UN on Iran? Imagine for a moment if a situation like this were happening in Israel or Iraq. The condemnation would be instant and vicious. There would be Security Council resolutions by the dozen. Iran? Not a word…
You have to understand that these people are ” GUILTY ” of interfering with the legitimate momentum of state/religious control controlled clubs by illegally putting their faces or other body parts in front of the clubs without getting the religious state’s ” Permission ” to damage state owned clubs ! ( Heavy sarcasm, obviously ).
Also pity some poor unfortunate Iranian person in hospital because they had a real accident coinciding with these events.
A ” Religion ” that needs force to maintain compliance has a lot to answer for as to legitimacy: A religion is something based on faith as being THE answer to the nature of the World/God and as an explanation for existence of anything at all ! Some people need or want answers, some people believe they have the answer, but no one has the right to impose any answers to these questions on anyone else ! Personally, I don’t believe in answers but I do believe that all the questions are where religion and philosophy meet, and each of us has to make peace with the ” uncertainty ” about why we are here ! Sort of off Topic rant, but then ” freedom ” of religion as well as freedom of political beliefs should be sacred and inviolable as long as those beliefs respect the beliefs of others and don’t promote violence or tyranny !