Amnesty International on Wednesday called for international justice to hold accountable the individuals responsible for the Iranian government’s violent crackdown on the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests. The human rights organization released a comprehensive report documenting what it described as crimes against humanity committed by Iranian authorities in response to the nationwide demonstrations triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini.
Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, died in custody in September 2022 after being detained by Tehran’s morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly. Her death sparked widespread protests across Iran, demanding political reform and respect for human rights. The United Nations previously reported that Amini was subjected to physical violence that led to her death.
The report, titled “Architects of Atrocities: State Machinery Orchestrating Crimes Against Humanity in Iran’s 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom Uprising,” details abuses including murder, torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary imprisonment, rape, and persecution based on political, gender, ethnic, and religious grounds. Amnesty documented 377 deaths of protesters and bystanders, including 56 children, during the period from September to December 2022. This figure is lower than the 551 deaths recorded by the UN Independent International Fact-finding Mission on Iran but significantly higher than the 202 fatalities acknowledged by Iranian authorities, who attributed most deaths to "rioters" or "armed terrorists."
The investigation identified 87 senior officials as responsible for orchestrating the crackdown. While some figures named, such as former supreme leader Ali Khamenei and former chief of the General Staff Mohammad Bagheri, have been killed in targeted strikes attributed to Israel or the United States, many remain in powerful positions. These include Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Ahmad Vahidi, Deputy Interior Minister for Security Majid Mir-Ahmadi, Tehran IRGC Commander Hassan Hassanzadeh, and Tehran Deputy Prosecutor Mohammad Shahriari.
Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard emphasized the coordinated and hierarchical nature of the repression, noting that the officials named continue to exercise authority that could lead to further violations. The group urged the establishment of an international criminal justice mechanism to hold those responsible accountable and to prevent additional mass violence, referencing the large-scale killings during protests in January 2026.
The report is based on interviews with 270 individuals—including protesters, former detainees, relatives of victims, lawyers, human rights defenders, journalists, and medical personnel—alongside analysis of over 2,000 videos, official documents, leaked materials, court records, and forensic data. Amnesty stated it reached out to Iran’s supreme leader and security officials to share its findings but received no response.
The IRGC and the Police Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FARAJA) were identified as the primary forces executing the crackdown. Amnesty found evidence that security personnel used military-grade firearms loaded with metal pellets and shot at fleeing protesters and bystanders at close range. In some cases, security forces chased individuals and shot them despite no threat being posed.
The report highlights disproportionate impact on the Baluchi and Kurdish ethnic communities, who accounted for 62% of recorded victims despite their smaller population share. Amnesty confirmed the unlawful killings of 106 Baluchi individuals and 95 Kurdish individuals, including children, across multiple provinces. Deaths were caused by gunfire, beatings, and other violent means.
Callamard described the crackdown as a systematic attempt by Iranian authorities to crush civilian dissent demanding dignity and fundamental political change. She called on the United Nations General Assembly to end the normalization of mass protest killings in Iran through the creation of an international justice body to prosecute those responsible.
While condemning military strikes on Iran by Israel and the United States, Callamard stressed that the greatest burden of violence and repression falls on Iranian civilians subjected to state-sponsored abuses.