Cartoon 33: Respect the Oath: “Keep Them from Harm and Injustice”

Respect the Oath: “Keep Them from Harm and Injustice”

After international outcry about the suspicious death of blogger Sattar Bahashti while in custody of the Iranian security forces, Iranian authorities launched an investigation into his cause of death. Shortly afterwards, the Iranian Judiciary’s Spokesperson and Prosecutor General Mohseni Ejei told reporters that the Medical Examiner had documented five bruises on Beheshti’s body, but no fractured bones, blood clots, or other unusual marks, and that overall, no “suspicious signs” were observed in the autopsy.

The Medical Examiner has announced that Bahashti’s death was a result of natural causes, not of torture. However, both Bahashti’s family and other prisoners who had seen him before his death reported extreme bruising and signs of torture on his body, contradicting the examiner’s report. If the Medical Examiner understated the physical marks of torture on Bahashti’s body in his report, it would not be the first time Iranian authorities pressured a doctor to go against the Hippocratic Oath.