Reporting on violence inside Iranian hospitals during the crackdown on January’s protests required extraordinary persistence and care. With an internet blackout in place, widespread arrests underway and doctors fearful of retaliation, reaching reliable sources inside Iran was immensely difficult.
Sarah El Deeb began by interviewing Iranian doctors in Europe and the United States who shared detailed accounts of security forces storming hospitals, detaining wounded protesters and intimidating medical staff. But she was determined to include firsthand voices from inside Iran. After weeks of patient source development, she secured interviews with two doctors still in the country. They described agents blocking treatment for injured protesters and operating a secret clinic to avoid detection.
To strengthen and corroborate those accounts, El Deeb partnered with Mnemonic, a Berlin-based organization archiving digital evidence of human rights abuses. The collaboration identified more than 100 videos and reports documenting violence across nine hospitals. A Farsi-speaking freelancer helped verify additional footage, and visual journalist Bram Janssen built a compelling digital package combining verified video, audio testimony and narration.
The result was a powerful investigation blending firsthand testimony with digital verification, exposing how security forces targeted medical facilities and sought to silence health workers during the crackdown.
Judges praised El Deeb’s tenacity in securing vivid testimony and crafting a compelling narrative under intense government pressure.
For getting behind the story and detailing abuses the government sought to hide, Sarah El Deeb wins this week’s Best of AP — Second Winner.
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