Urgent Appeal to the Australian Medical Association: Act Now on the Medical & Human Rights Emergency in Iran

To: The Australian Medical Association (AMA)

Iran is facing a rapidly escalating humanitarian and medical emergency that demands immediate action from the international medical community.

Millions of Iranians are peacefully protesting for freedom, dignity, and self-determination. In response, the ruling regime has deliberately taken actions that have endangered civilian lives and crippled healthcare delivery, including:

 • Nationwide shutdowns of internet, mobile, and landline communications

 • Widespread power outages, including in residential and medical areas

 • Deployment of military-grade force against unarmed civilians

 • Interference with emergency medical care

 • Harassment, intimidation, and arrest of healthcare workers

 • Obstruction of ambulance services and hospital coordination

These actions have severely impaired emergency response systems, delayed life-saving treatment, and placed children, pregnant women, the elderly, and patients with chronic or acute illnesses at extreme and avoidable risk.

Disabling communication networks and electricity during civil unrest is not merely political repression — it is a direct assault on public health, medical neutrality, and the fundamental right to life.

A medical and ethical crisis

Healthcare professionals in Iran are being punished for fulfilling their ethical duty to treat the injured. Hospitals and emergency services are operating under unsafe and inhumane constraints, in clear violation of:

 • International humanitarian law

 • The Geneva Conventions

 • The World Medical Association’s Declaration of Geneva

 • Core principles of medical ethics and medical neutrality

When healthcare systems are deliberately targeted, silence from global medical institutions risks normalising the weaponisation of healthcare disruption as a tool of repression.

The will of the Iranian people:

The Iranian people have repeatedly and publicly called for a peaceful transition to a democratic, secular, and rights-based system of governance. Majority of the population has identified Prince Reza Pahlavi as a unifying national leader of the Iranian National Revolution and a symbol of national continuity — calling for an end to tyranny and the restoration of freedom, dignity, and the rule of law.

 

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What we are asking of the AMA

 

We, the undersigned, respectfully urge the Australian Medical Association to:

 1. Publicly condemn the deliberate disruption of medical, communication, and power infrastructure in Iran

 2. Advocate for the protection of healthcare workers, patients, and medical facilities

 3. Call for unrestricted access to internet and communication services on urgent humanitarian and medical grounds

 4. Stand in solidarity with Iranian healthcare professionals and civilians acting under extreme repression

 5. Engage with international medical and human-rights organisations to apply coordinated pressure for an immediate end to these abuses

 6. Support the Iranian people’s right to self-determination and a peaceful transition away from tyranny

 

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Why your signature matters

 

History shows that delayed international responses cost lives.

Medical institutions carry a moral responsibility to speak when healthcare systems are deliberately attacked.

 

By signing this petition, you stand for:

 • Medical ethics

 • Human dignity

 • Protection of life

 • Accountability for crimes against civilians

 

Silence helps dictators. Speaking up saves lives.

 

Petition starter:

Dr Arezoo Hakki, MD,

FRACGP

Western Australia