Source: Amnesty International –
- New report finds Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their bloody suppression of the 2022 Woman Life Freedom uprising
- In-depth investigation exposes chain of command responsible for implementing state policy of lethal force to crush protests and identifies 87 officials who should be investigated for crimes against humanity
- Iranian authorities disproportionately targeted Kurdish and Baluchi communities with lethal repression and subjected them to the crime against humanity of persecution
- UN General Assembly should create an international criminal justice mechanism to tackle impunity for repeated mass protest killings culminating in January 2026 protest massacres
- Report released amid armed hostilities since unlawful US and Israeli attacks, underscoring the need for enduring ceasefire and accountability for violations of the UN Charter and international humanitarian law
In a landmark new report marking the fourth anniversary of the start of the Woman Life Freedom uprising, Amnesty International warns that those responsible for crimes against humanity committed to brutally crush nationwide protests in 2022 continue to control Iran’s deadly state machinery of repression today.
The report, Architects of Atrocities: State Machinery Orchestrating Crimes Against Humanity in Iran’s 2022 Woman Life Freedom Uprising –more than 1,000 pages long – details how Iranian authorities committed the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, enforced disappearance, imprisonment, rape and persecution on political, gender, ethnic and religious grounds in order to crush the uprising. It also documents deadly protest repression operations and command structures, identifying 87 officials who should be criminally investigated for crimes against humanity.
Amnesty International is calling for an international criminal justice mechanism to be established urgently by the UN General Assembly to ensure Iranian authorities responsible for crimes against humanity are held to account and to deter further atrocities such as the large-scale protest massacres committed on 8-9 January 2026.
In light of the ongoing hostilities following unlawful attacks by the USA and Israel on Iran, Amnesty International also reiterates its call for an enduring ceasefire and independent investigations into attacks committed during the conflict. The organization calls for the UN to address accountability for violations of the UN Charter and of international humanitarian law, including possible war crimes.
“The extensive evidence gathered and analysed in our report leaves no doubt: Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity to crush the 2022 Woman Life Freedom uprising. They waged a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population demanding dignity, human rights and fundamental political change, pursuant to a state policy of using lethal force to obliterate dissent,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
Our report unveils how crimes against humanity in Iran are sustained by an architecture of impunity built into the country’s constitutional, legislative, political and judicial frameworks.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General
“Our report also unveils how crimes against humanity in Iran are sustained by an architecture of impunity built into the country’s constitutional, legislative, political and judicial frameworks. The horrifying result has been intensifying cycles of mass protest killings, culminating in the massacres of thousands of protesters within just 48 hours on 8-9 January 2026. The UN General Assembly must end the unconscionable normalization of mass protest killings in Iran and create an international criminal justice mechanism aimed at prosecuting those most implicated in crimes against humanity.
“This report is being published at a time when people in Iran are also facing the devastating consequences of unlawful attacks by the USA and Israel. Amnesty International unequivocally opposes violations of international law by all parties and rejects any attempt to instrumentalize the suffering of victims of human rights violations in Iran to justify unlawful attacks that inflict further civilian harm.
“For years, Iranian people have faced brutal repression, persecution and impunity at the hands of their own authorities. Today, many are also bearing the human cost of unlawful military action carried out by the USA and Israel. A principled response requires rejecting both impunity for crimes against humanity and unlawful use of force. The international community must pursue people-centred diplomatic strategies that place civilian protection, atrocity prevention, justice and accountability at their core. After more than six months of air strikes that have killed and injured civilians, damaged the environment, and caused significant destruction of civilian infrastructure, an enduring ceasefire is urgently needed alongside independent investigations and action by the UN General Assembly to address accountability for violations of the UN Charter and of international humanitarian law and possible war crimes committed by all parties to the conflict.”
Amnesty International’s report, released four years after the death in custody of Zhina Mahsa Amini at the hands of the “morality” police sparked nationwide protests, documents how the Iranian authorities mobilized security forces armed with military-grade firearms and shotguns loaded with metal pellets and issued orders that facilitated the unlawful killing of hundreds of protesters and bystanders, including dozens of children. The crimes against humanity also included the arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, torture or other ill-treatment of thousands of men, women and children as well as persecution of bereaved relatives.
Alongside the report, Amnesty International is also publishing Lives Cut Brutally Short: Victims of Crimes Against Humanity During Iran’s 2022 Woman Life Freedom Uprising, a document recording the deaths of 377 protesters and bystanders, 56 of them children, based on information and evidence gathered as part of the organization’s investigation into nationwide patterns of killings by the security forces. The document includes victims’ photographs and images of their grave sites where available.
In addition to calling on the UN General Assembly to create an international justice mechanism given the political deadlock at the UN Security Council, the gravity and scale of crimes committed, and high risk of recurrence, Amnesty International also urges states to call on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Iran to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The organization also urges prosecution authorities around the world to initiate investigations, under universal or other forms of extraterritorial jurisdiction, against Iranian officials allegedly responsible for crimes against humanity, including the officials named in this report, and, where sufficient evidence exists, to issue arrest warrants.
Amnesty International’s years of research for this report involved interviews with 270 people, including protesters, former detainees, relatives of those killed or detained, eyewitnesses, lawyers, human rights defenders, journalists and medical workers. The organization also analysed over 2,000 videos and extensive documentary evidence, including official statements, leaked official documents, prosecution orders, court verdicts and forensic records.
Amnesty International wrote to Iran’s Supreme Leader and senior security officials to share its findings and notify the 87 officials identified in the report. At the time of publication, it has received no response.