Amnesty calls for arrest of 87 Iran officials over 'crimes against humanity' during protests

Amnesty calls for arrest of 87 Iran officials over 'crimes against humanity' during protests Submitted by Alex MacDonald on Wed, 09/16/2026 - 10:08 Report warns US-Israel war fuelling spiralling repression four years after Woman Life Freedom protests Women hold a placard reading "Woman, Life, Freedom" during a march marking the International Women's Day near Taksim Square in Istanbul on 8 March 2026 (Yasin Akgul / AFP) Off Amnesty International has called for the arrest of 87 Iranian officials for "crimes against humanity" over their involvement in cracking down on the 2022 Woman Life Freedom protests.

In a new, more than 1,000-page report titled Architects of Atrocities: State Machinery Orchestrating Crimes Against Humanity in Iran’s 2022 Woman Life Freedom Uprising, the rights group documented the extent of state repression against anti-government protesters during the demonstrations.

The 2022 uprising was sparked by the death in police custody of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest for wearing her hijab "inappropriately".

During the demonstrations and executions that followed, hundreds of people were killed.

Amnesty gathered information and evidence for the report about the verified deaths of 377 protesters and bystanders – including 56 children – who were disproportionately members of the country's Kurdish and Balochi minorities.

"Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity, against protesters demanding dignity, human rights and fundamental political change," said Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International.

Speaking at a press conference launching the report on Wednesday, Callamard said 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.

'My mother was not killed by the actions of just one person - she was killed by a system' - Mahsa Piraei, daughter of slain protester She said Amnesty was calling for the UN General Assembly to establish an international criminal justice mechanism to ensure accountability and deter future crackdowns.

It was also calling for the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Iran to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Mahsa Piraei, an Iranian woman whose mother was killed by police in Kermanshah during the 2022 uprising, told the press conference that responsibility for the deaths "must go all the way up the chain of command".

"The person who fired the shot that killed my mother must be held accountable, but it must not stop there," she said. "My mother was not killed by the actions of just one person – she was killed by a system.

" 'Unlawful' war on Iran Callamard also warned that the "unlawful" US-Israeli attacks on Iran were undermining efforts to pursue justice for those killed during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, and called for an "enduring ceasefire" in the country.

How supporters of 'Woman Life Freedom' in Iran rejected Israel's assault Read More » At least 3,600 Iranians, including senior officials and civilians, have been killed since the war began in February.

The US had cited anti-government demonstrations in January, in which thousands were killed by security forces within days, as a motivation for its assault on Iran.

The US-Israeli war, however, has also killed and wounded opponents of the Islamic Republic, including political prisoners held in strategically important jails, while rights groups say the government has ramped up internal repression in response.

Six of the 87 officials listed in the report were killed during the war while others, such as Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Ahmad Vahidi, have been promoted.

Callamard said Amnesty opposed the targeted killing of Iranian officials and attempts by Israel and the US to "instrumentalise" human rights abuses in Iran to justify their assault.

"No matter how complex the panorama is… we want to insist that international law should guide the path of action right now," she said.

"A principled response required rejecting both unlawful military attacks and impunity for crimes against humanity. " Iran protests News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0