Iran International
Iran International has launched a new phase of its campaign documenting the January massacre, focusing on Gharazi Hospital in Isfahan, where documents and witness accounts show the facility became a destination for many of those killed or wounded during the January 8-10 protests.
The investigation draws in part on a list of people recorded at Gharazi Hospital during the crackdown. Documents reviewed by Iran International have so far confirmed the identities of 24 people who died after being taken there.
Iran International has previously reported on several deaths connected to the hospital, including those of Iraj Kiani, Mohammadreza Saberi, Ahmadreza Mehrab Beik, Mehdi Masoumi and Mona Hosseini.
Those reports described a pattern of direct gunfire at protesters, denial of medical treatment, bodies removed without family consent, delayed release of remains, pressure on relatives and demands for large payments before bodies were handed over.
Hospital under security control
Witnesses, relatives and medical sources described the hospital as operating under tight security control during the three-day period.
They said security personnel controlled the hospital, many bodies were removed without informing families and records relating to some of the dead and wounded disappeared from the hospital's admission system.
More than 100 injured people were brought to the hospital on the evening of January 9, according to information received by Iran International. A hospital source said the names of a number of injured and killed were removed from the electronic registration system shortly after being entered.
One medical staff member estimated that 140 bodies linked to the hospital were identified or seen during the unrest, though other sources suggested the real figure may have been considerably higher.
Morgue accounts
Medical sources and eyewitnesses said the hospital morgue reached capacity on the nights of January 8 and 9, with bodies stacked on top of one another. Several sources also said that some wounded people were transferred there alongside those already dead.
One member of the medical staff told Iran International that groaning could be heard from inside one of the body bags after it reached the morgue, suggesting that at least one person was still alive. Security personnel, the source said, prevented staff from approaching the individual.
Witnesses also described bodies being moved to external storage facilities after the morgue became full.
Families told Iran International that some bodies were withheld for several days before being released under heavy security restrictions, with payments of between five billion and 10 billion rials, roughly $3,500 to $7,000 at the time, reportedly demanded before remains were returned.
The reports contrast with an announcement by Iran's Legal Medicine Organization on January 12 that examinations of those injured during the protests and the release of victims' bodies would be free of charge.
Protester's final hours
Among the cases documented is that of Farid Seifi, who was shot during the protests on January 8.
Witnesses said a security officer fired from a rooftop, striking him in the heart. His family took him to Gharazi Hospital while he was still breathing, but he later died there.
People close to the family said security personnel subsequently removed his body. After several days and the payment of a substantial sum, his body were returned and buried under heavy security on January 15.
He had been married for only one year and eight months, and his wife was pregnant with triplets when he was killed.
Information from the streets of Isfahan also indicates that Gharazi Hospital became the destination for many people wounded by direct fire from security forces during the protests.
A witness said thousands of people had gathered when security forces advanced from the nearby streets on January 9. Officers first used tear gas and long-range fire before moving closer and opening direct fire on the crowd, according to the witness.
Several people fell after a burst of gunfire, forcing protesters to flee through side streets, the witness said.
One protester was struck by three bullets. "People tried to call emergency services, but the lines were busy," the witness said. "Eventually, several people stopped a car and asked the driver to take the protester's body to the hospital."
Wounded teenager says hospital opened judicial case
In a separate account, an 18-year-old identified as Mehdi said he was shot with live ammunition from about 10 meters away during protests in Isfahan on January 8, with the bullet striking above his knee.
He said protesters first took him to a nearby house, where they stemmed the bleeding. "As the number of wounded increased and space ran out, some protesters were treated in residential parking garages," he said.
Because of heavy blood loss, Mehdi later sought treatment at Gharazi Hospital, where he said staff opened a judicial case for him. Security agents visited his home several times after his hospital visit, he added.
Accounts received by Iran International show that fear of arrest, torture or being killed at hospitals led many wounded protesters to avoid medical centers altogether or leave shortly after arriving. Some instead received treatment in homes and parking garages with the help of local residents and medical staff.
The pattern has also meant that the true number of people wounded and killed was never fully recorded in official systems or, in some cases, disappeared after initial registration.
Iran International's campaign into the small town of Mamasani killings in Fars province has previously documented similar accounts of wounded protesters receiving treatment at home because they feared arrest at hospitals.
The campaign to establish the facts surrounding the January protest crackdown continues by collecting, examining and verifying accounts from witnesses, victims' families, medical staff and local sources.
Testimony reviewed by Iran International has made Gharazi Hospital one of the central locations in the investigation. Multiple sources described it not only as a hospital where wounded protesters were denied treatment, but also as a site where bodies were used to intimidate families, extract payments, conceal evidence and erase traces of the killings.
The index, produced for Iran in collaboration with Impact Iran, said torture remained deeply embedded in the country’s law, policy and practice, and warned that US and Israeli strikes on Iran during the June 2025 military escalation had further increased the risk of torture, ill-treatment and arbitrary detention.
The report said Iran scored at the most severe level on six of the index’s seven pillars: political commitment, police and institutional violence, impunity, victims’ rights, the right to defend human rights, and protection for all. It rated Iran as high-risk on conditions in detention.
It said Iran had not ratified the UN Convention against Torture, did not criminalize torture as a distinct offense, and continued to allow punishments such as flogging and amputation.
The report also cited the use of confessions in convictions, saying this created incentives for torture and ill-treatment to extract statements, including confessions later broadcast by state media.
It said at least 1,639 executions were recorded in Iran in 2025, including executions of people who were under 18 at the time of their alleged offenses.
The index also pointed to what it called near-total impunity, saying no independent body investigates torture allegations or deaths in custody, while overcrowded detention facilities operate with little or no outside oversight.
Women and girls, ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA+ people, human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers face heightened risks of torture, arbitrary detention and other abuse, the report said.
“In Iran, torture is not a failure of the system – it is the system: written into law, rewarded by the courts, and concealed behind prison walls,” said Rose Richter, Impact Iran’s executive director.
Richter said security forces fired on civilians even inside hospitals during the crackdown of December 2025 and January 2026, when more than 50,000 people were arrested and more than 7,000 killed.
Other rights groups and monitoring organizations have previously reported higher figures for the crackdown, pointing out the difficulty of verifying casualties and arrests amid restrictions on access, intimidation of families and limited independent reporting inside Iran.
“Behind each of those numbers is a person whose suffering was deliberate, and a family still waiting for the truth,” Richter said.
Gerald Staberock, secretary general of OMCT, said the index was intended to turn “scattered warnings into evidence that cannot be ignored.”
“The Global Torture Index should be read by development agencies, but also by security actors and businesses seeking to engage or invest in the countries covered,” Staberock said.
OMCT urged Iran to halt executions and judicial corporal punishment, ratify the UN Convention against Torture, criminalize torture, end the use of coerced confessions and give the UN Fact-Finding Mission unhindered access.
Messages sent to Iran International from residents in Khuzestan, Ilam, Lorestan, East Azarbaijan, Alborz, Tehran and other provinces described hours-long daily power cuts and recurring water shortages that began with the onset of summer.
The reports come as much of Iran experiences extreme heat, placing additional strain on the country's aging electricity and water networks.
A resident of Khuzestan, one of Iran's main electricity-producing provinces, said scheduled power cuts had resumed despite the province generating far more electricity than it consumes.
"On the first day of summer, with temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius, they started cutting electricity again in a province that produces twice its own needs."
Residents in Ilam province also reported electricity outages lasting up to four hours as temperatures reached 46 degrees Celsius. One warned that if the blackouts continue, authorities would face "angry and protesting people."
In Pardis, east of Tehran, a resident of a 14-story apartment building said electricity was cut for four hours during the day, leaving elevators out of service.
"How are we supposed to climb all these stairs?"
Others said the loss of elevator access posed particular difficulties for elderly residents and families with young children.
Water shortages deepen disruption
Citizens also reported prolonged water outages, which they said often coincided with electricity cuts because pumping stations stopped operating.
Mehdi Masaeli, secretary of Iran's Electricity Industry Syndicate, said last year that water supplies are interrupted when electricity fails because pumps stop working.
Residents in Boumehen near Tehran said they had access to running water on only two days during the previous week, and then only for a few hours.
"We have a sick person at home. We no longer know who to turn to."
People from Shahriar and Qods, west of Tehran, also described prolonged water cuts, with some saying supplies were unavailable from mid-afternoon until early the following morning. Several said repeated calls to the local water utility produced only tracking numbers and recorded messages.
"Water is a basic necessity, not a luxury service."
Officials have cited falling reservoir levels, declining rainfall and rising consumption as the main causes of the shortages. Many people, however, said authorities were blaming consumers instead of addressing years of underinvestment and poor management.
One message from Ilam province said the city of Shabab had gone without running water for three consecutive days.
Some also compared the shortages with recent warnings about attacks on infrastructure.
"There was no need for anyone to attack the energy infrastructure," one citizen wrote. "Government inefficiency has taken our water away and pushed us back to the Stone Age. We carry water home in containers."
Higher bills, aging infrastructure
People also complained that utility bills had increased even as services deteriorated.
A resident in Zanjan said electricity and water tariffs had quietly risen just as power cuts resumed. In Ahvaz, people reported sharply higher water bills, with one saying many families could no longer afford to pay them and that local authorities were unwilling to offer installment plans.
Energy experts have long warned that Iran's electricity and water systems suffer from years of inadequate investment in power generation, transmission networks and water infrastructure.
They say authorities have repeatedly relied on rotating blackouts and water restrictions to manage seasonal shortages rather than addressing the underlying causes, leaving households increasingly vulnerable during periods of extreme heat.
