Iran’s paramilitary and intelligence networks profit from privatized healthcare institutions, employing a predominantly female workforce under exploitative short-term contracts with no oversight. These same facilities are also used to detain and torture political prisoners, including activists detained during the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom uprising. Women’s rights were central to the protests, and the thousands arrested have faced rape, pharmacological torture, and other abuses.
The regime’s exploitation of female healthcare workers and its violence against women reinforce its patriarchal power structures. By extracting profits from labor while oppressing women through systemic violence, these institutions perpetuate a cycle of repression that sustains the regime’s dominance and erodes women’s rights and agency.
Privatization has allowed the government to defund public health facilities and sell them off to regime insiders, including organizations linked to the Bonyads and the IRGC. These groups run the facilities as profit centers, exploiting their largely female workforce with low pay, overwork, and job insecurity. But the troubling trends in Iran’s healthcare system go beyond economic exploitation: these spaces have also become sites of grave human rights violations, where political prisoners are subjected to pharmacological torture and coerced confessions.
Months before his tragic death earlier this month, journalist Kianoush Sanjari spoke about his experience in a psychiatric hospital, where authorities transferred during one of his detainments: “They were giving me something that I could understand everything perfectly, but I couldn’t speak.”
Sanjari, a prolific human rights defender, was repeatedly subjected to abuse and torture, including pharmacological torture, during his imprisonment. On Nov. 12, a message was posted on his X account, stating that if four political prisoners were not released by the following evening, Sanjari would end his own life in protest against the regime. By the following day, two more posts had been published, reaffirming Sanjari’s resolve to carry out his plan. Minutes later, Sanjari’s death was confirmed by political and civil activists at the scene. The full details of the incident remain unclear.
Out of sight
Since the uprising, human rights organizations have documented the regime’s use of healthcare facilities to suppress dissent. An April Amnesty International report highlighted the use of pharmacological methods against prisoners, contributing to rising executions. For women working in these institutions, the combination of economic exploitation and security operations creates a climate of fear, eroding both their professional rights and physical safety.
“They don’t allow us, as the medical staff, to get close to [the political prisoners],” a staff member from Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital, where hundreds of dissidents, including Sanjari, reportedly suffered pharmacological torture, told Tehran Bureau. “There are doctors who are sent by them, and in a section of the hospital that belongs to them. They keep these patients, and we have no oversight over their treatment process.”
This lack of oversight raises critical concerns about the medications administered. “We know nothing about it. And because of this, we can’t guarantee what medicine [the political prisoners] are being given.”
The staff member also cautioned political prisoners, saying, “Please emphasize to political prisoners… not to take any pills or anything.” The staff member further advised political prisoners against discussing their mental health with their captors to prevent incentivizing them to administer harmful medication.
Yalda Dehghani, a young woman who was detained and abused by her captors during the 2022 uprising, shared her experience with medications, stating, “When I took them, it felt like my whole body went numb.” This experience was echoed by others, indicating a disturbing pattern of pharmacological torture.
Mapping parastatal business interests in the healthcare sector
The following list provides an overview of the parastatal organizations involved in the privatization of Iran’s healthcare sector, including its mental health facilities.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC): The IRGC has expanded its presence across Iran’s healthcare landscape, primarily through managing key healthcare infrastructure and supplying medical equipment companies like Hadian Salamat Jame’e, which is affiliated with Bonyad Taavon Basij (BTS). These contracts enable the IRGC to control a significant share of critical healthcare resources. Furthermore, IRGC-affiliated doctors have been integrated into healthcare systems as contractors, using state-provided loans or insider connections to gain favorable contracts. These connections enable IRGC-linked personnel to profit without bearing typical work responsibilities. Tehran Bureau’s investigations indicate that certain mental health facilities under IRGC influence may even serve as torture chambers, casting a dark shadow over Iran’s healthcare ethics and priorities.
Basij Cooperative Foundation: Operating through Khadamat Darmani Basijian (Basij Health Services), the Basij Cooperative Foundation holds contracts across various healthcare centers. These contracts facilitate Basij’s deepening influence in healthcare and reveal the Basij Cooperative’s dual objectives—serving both as a healthcare provider and as an extension of the Basij’s broader ideological reach. The Basij Cooperative’s contract work in the healthcare sector aligns it with the IRGC and Bonyad Shahid, intertwining healthcare delivery with Iran’s larger military-industrial complex.
Alavi Foundation: The Alavi Foundation owns medical facilities such as Eqbal Hospital and Borzouyeh Medical Group in Tehran, alongside other assets like Arak Medical Group Co. Through these holdings, the Alavi Foundation not only contributes to Iran’s healthcare network but also blends healthcare with commercial pharmaceutical ventures. This dual focus on medical services and pharmaceuticals demonstrates the Alavi Foundation’s commitment to profit within a sector ostensibly oriented towards public welfare.
Day Insurance and Related Services: Under Bonyad Shahid’s oversight, Day Insurance operates as both a healthcare insurance provider and an investment arm, ensuring that healthcare remains financially beneficial to BS’s network. Day Insurance manages employee health benefits but restricts broader protections, creating barriers to equitable healthcare. This selective coverage approach further emphasizes the profit motives behind these military-affiliated healthcare entities.
Barakat Foundation and Affiliates: The Barakat Foundation, part of EIKO, manages Barakat Insurance and Imen Alborz Insurance, functioning as both healthcare insurance and investment entities. Despite the foundation’s stated aim of healthcare support, Barakat Insurance’s policies focus primarily on BTS affiliates and military-connected personnel. This limited healthcare access is indicative of a larger pattern of prioritizing specific demographics while undercutting the healthcare workforce. Facilities managed by Barakat frequently employ staff on temporary or unstable contracts, further reducing labor protections.
Corporate Structures and the Privatization Trend: Many entities, including Pishgaman Atieh Sanat Isaar and Nasr Moein Iranian Insurance Services, are structured as private (PVT) companies. This privatization aligns with Iran’s push toward market-driven healthcare, resulting in an ecosystem where military and state-aligned organizations dominate, blurring lines between public service and profit-driven agendas. The use of private company structures to secure control over public healthcare assets highlights a systemic privatization strategy.Regional Control and Expansion: In addition to Tehran, these entities manage a network of healthcare facilities in cities like Mashhad and Shiraz, evidencing an expansive reach. Darmangaran Arvand Pishro, a BTS-linked service provider, operates in Shahriar, underscoring the nationwide spread of the IRGC’s healthcare influence. This geographic dispersal is essential to BTS’ strategy of embedding its affiliates within regional health systems, effectively monopolizing healthcare access and quality across Iran.
Source » tehranbureau