Dr. Abdolreza Soudbakhsh was born on January 16, 1950, in Bandar Anzali, Gilan province. He spent his childhood and completed his education in Bandar Anzali, graduating high school in 1967. In the same year, he was accepted into medical school at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. After graduating, he moved to Kermanshah to complete his medical service plan, where he married and settled down. He had three sons and one daughter.
Dr. Soudbakhsh was an Associate Professor and faculty member at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, the head of the Infectious Diseases Department, and a specialist physician at Khomeini Hospital in Tehran. He also served as an expert for forensic medical courts and the country's medical system. He was deeply passionate about his profession, often working from 7 AM to 11 PM, dedicated to helping people. He was known for his kind and humorous nature.
In the aftermath of the nationwide protests that began in June 2009 following the presidential election results, several protesters were transferred to the Kahrizak detention center in July 2009, where some died under severe torture. Security agents, acting under the supervision of Tehran Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, demanded that Dr. Soudbakhsh, as an infectious disease specialist, write a report falsely stating that these political prisoners had died from meningitis. He refused, insisting on examining the prisoners himself. After conducting examinations and tests on detainees in Evin and Kahrizak, he discovered that prisoners suffering from urinary infections had been sexually assaulted, and those who died had been killed under torture, not from meningitis.
Dr. Soudbakhsh was the second physician to become involved in the Kahrizak case. Previously, Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani, the duty doctor at Kahrizak, had faced similar pressure from Saeed Mortazavi to attribute the deaths of several detainees to meningitis, rather than the deadly conditions, poor hygiene, inadequate nutrition, heat, lack of cooling, beatings, neglect, and horrific torture they endured. Dr. Pourandarjani, possessing extensive evidence of the Kahrizak crimes, refused to comply and was subsequently killed at his workplace by security agents.
Witnessing the regime's atrocities in Evin and Kahrizak, Dr. Soudbakhsh was under constant pressure from security forces. He confided in his eldest son, Behrang, and his youngest son, Damoon, who lived in the United States, about the sexual abuse and torture at Kahrizak. He even recounted the horrific detail of an 18-year-old being sexually assaulted to death by agents in Kahrizak. Overwhelmed by stress, he decided to temporarily distance himself from the Kahrizak situation and planned a trip to the US to visit Damoon. He had a flight booked for 5 AM on Wednesday, September 22, 2010, to Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, September 21, 2010, around 9 PM, as Dr. Soudbakhsh was leaving his clinic on Keshavarz Boulevard, opposite Laleh Hospital, to get into his car, he was ambushed. Two motorcyclists and a taxi blocked his path. As he was about to open his car door, a taxi pulled up very close, parallel to his car, effectively blocking his escape. Simultaneously, two motorcycles carrying four individuals (two in front, two in back) approached and opened fire. A shot from the front motorcycle struck his car door, but a shot from the rear motorcycle hit his side. He collapsed to the street, bleeding profusely, and died instantly. The assassins' weapons were equipped with silencers. After killing him, they fled the scene against the traffic flow on Keshavarz Boulevard.
Within ten minutes of the shooting, numerous agents arrived at the scene and filmed everything, but no information from the footage was ever provided to his family. After his body was transferred to forensic medicine, his clinic was sealed, and agents denied his family access to his documents and belongings; even his wedding ring disappeared. The bullet casings, crucial for identifying the weapon type, also vanished. His family was subjected to intense pressure from security forces not to publicize the murder. They were threatened that if they reported his killing to the media, his body would not be released, and he would be secretly buried, with the location announced later. Consequently, his family was forced into silence. His lifeless body was finally handed over to his family on September 25, 2010, and buried under heavy security, attended by only a few close relatives. His daughter wept silently, and his wife was compelled to remain silent under the severe pressure of security agents during the burial.
Following the burial, his family filed a complaint with the court. The case was opened in Branch 7 of the Investigative Court of Criminal Complex No. 27 of Tehran's Judiciary, under Judge Shahriari. However, despite numerous follow-ups and complaints from his family, no leads were ever found. All existing evidence indicated that the assassination was a planned operation by the regime, and the killers had waited calmly near his clinic, even without masks, knowing precisely that he was scheduled to travel to the US the next morning. CCTV cameras were never checked, with authorities claiming a power outage. Cameras from a nearby pharmacy were confiscated by security forces, and their content was never explained. Eyewitnesses provided facial composites of the assailants, but the Ministry of Intelligence completely ignored them. Ultimately, the case was closed without a resolution. Security agents were concerned that Dr. Soudbakhsh would take information about Kahrizak abroad, and his targeted killing was intended to prevent him from giving interviews outside Iran. Authorities initially attempted to justify the murder as having a personal motive, but this was refuted by hospital doctors and university professors, as there was no evidence of him having any personal conflicts that could lead to such a murder. After his assassination, anyone who attempted to take steps regarding the case encountered problems; for instance, a witness who claimed to have seen the assailants disappeared without a trace.