Doctors and hospitals in Iran have also been attacked during the severe unrest sweeping the country, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
"In recent days, there have been reports of health workers assaulted, and at least five doctors detained, while treating injured patients," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on the social platform X on Thursday evening.
"I call for the release of any health worker in detention. Healthcare personnel should never face intimidation."
There have been reports that doctors who helped injured demonstrators were arrested. Furthermore, injured demonstrators are said to have been taken from hospitals by the security forces.
According to estimates by human rights organizations, thousands of people have been killed in the recent wave of severe unrest in Iran.
Tedros said that the WHO had confirmed that the Khomeini Hospital in the western Iranian city of Ilam was attacked at the beginning of January.
After the admission of injured individuals to the hospital, violence occurred both inside and outside the facility, disrupting medical care, Tedros wrote.
In recent weeks, several health facilities in Iran have been damaged, and more than 50 paramedics have been injured. Tear gas is also said to have been used at the Sina Hospital in Tehran, Tedros said.
The trigger for the protests was the dire economic situation. However, the protests then openly turned against the authoritarian system of rule in the Islamic Republic.
