A seven-year-old disabled and orphaned girl named Dorsa was brutally sexually assaulted by the director of a rehabilitation center in Mazandaran province, leaving her with severe genital injuries, according to a report by Ham-Mihan newspaper.
The report published on Monday said the assault occurred at the Ferashtegan Mehr Kalar rehabilitation institute near the northern town of Kelardasht.
The girl was taken to a hospital on September 28 after severe bleeding.
Police initially claimed in their report that the girl was injured after a “pipe left in the restroom” hit her genital area, but hospital staff and the newspaper rejected this explanation as implausible.
Doctors told Ham-Mihan that the child, who was always in diapers due to her cerebral disability and difficulty walking, could not have caused such an injury herself and showed no bruises or marks typical of a fall.
Medical staff said the injury appeared deliberate, adding that “it seemed someone had scratched her body with nails, causing the bleeding.”
The Mazandaran Welfare Organization later confirmed that security cameras had captured “inappropriate behavior and deliberate physical abuse” of Dorsa by staff at the center.
The female director of the facility was arrested on charges of abuse and later released on bail pending trial.
Following the incident, provincial authorities revoked the institution’s license and ordered its closure. Dorsa was moved to another facility for children with mild intellectual disabilities, along with three other orphans.
Ham-Mihan noted that the now-defunct center had been established with charitable donations, and some donors have since demanded their contributions back from local authorities.
Activists say Dorsa’s case is not an isolated incident, citing other reports of abuse, assault, and even deaths of disabled residents at welfare centers across Iran.
They argue that oversight of such institutions should be transferred from the Welfare Organization to an independent body, warning that poor vetting and training of staff continue to endanger vulnerable children.
According to the Welfare Organization, nearly 59,000 people currently live in 1,190 centers and care homes under its supervision nationwide.
