Iran is witnessing gross human rights violations, with police arresting protesters being treated in hospitals.

News Topical, Digital Desk : Mai Sato, a UN expert on Iran, said on Monday that she had received reports that protesters being treated in hospitals were being detained by security forces, a gross violation of the right to medical care under international law.

Mai Sato told Reuters in an interview via video link that people are being asked to pay ransoms of between $5,000 and $7,000 to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones, a heavy burden amid Iran's growing economic problems.

Protests have been ongoing since December

Anti-government protests have been raging across Iran since December last year, and the government has been brutally suppressing them. The authorities are carrying out the bloodiest crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, drawing international condemnation.

Internet is down since January 8

Iran has shut down the internet since January 8. The US-based human rights organization Human Rights Activities News Agency puts the death toll at 5,937, including 214 security personnel. However, official figures put the death toll at 3,117.

The number of casualties is higher than the official figures.

Sato, a professor at Birkbeck University in London, said she could not independently confirm the death toll but believed the number of casualties was far higher than official figures.

He said reports from hospital staff in several Iranian provinces indicated that security forces had raided hospitals. When families arrived the next day, their loved ones were missing. 

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