Ahead of the second anniversary of the protests in Iran, the Iranian people continue to suffer the devastating consequences of the regime’s brutal crackdown on the Women’s Lives for Freedom uprising, while systematic impunity exists for crimes under international law, Amnesty International said today. Challenging decades of oppression and sexism.
During and after the nationwide protests from September to December 2022, Iranian authorities failed to conduct effective, impartial and independent criminal investigations into serious violations of human rights and violations of international law, including widespread illegal use of force and firearms by security forces. Security forces used assault rifles, shotguns loaded with metal pellets and tear gas canisters, and violently beat protesters with batons, resulting in the unlawful killing of hundreds of protesters and bystanders, including dozens of children, and the killing of many more The injury changed their lives. Through arbitrary detentions, unfair prosecutions, death threats, and other relentless harassment, authorities seek to silence relatives seeking truth and justice for the unlawful killings of their loved ones.
Two years later, authorities also escalated their human rights abuses, launching a “war on women and girls” through an increasingly violent crackdown on those who flout tough mandatory hijab laws and increasing the use of Death penalty to suppress dissent.
“The anniversary of the Women for Life uprising is a haunting reminder that countless Iranians are still suffering the consequences of the regime’s brutal repression.” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director at Amnesty International. Iranian officials committed crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations during and after the uprising, and victims, survivors and their relatives remain denied access to truth, justice and reparations.
“Iranian authorities have waged a campaign of denial and distortion over the past two years to conceal evidence of their crimes and seek to intimidate survivors and victims’ families into silence. With no prospect of an independent, impartial investigation in the country, countries must Criminal investigations into crimes committed by the Iranian authorities must be conducted through domestic prosecutorial authorities in accordance with the principle of universal jurisdiction.
The ‘war on women’ intensifies
As Iranian authorities continue to work to suppress the powerful feminist movement against the mandatory hijab, which has intensified in the wake of Mahsa/Gina Amini’s death in custody and the Women’s Lives for Freedom uprising, the Iranian authorities have launched a campaign called the New national campaign planned for April 2024. Since then, there has been a significant increase in security patrols in public places on foot, motorcycles, cars and police cars to enforce the wearing of headscarves.
The anniversary of the Women’s Lives for Liberty uprising is a haunting reminder that countless Iranians are still suffering the consequences of the regime’s brutal repression.
Diana Eltahawi, Amnesty International
The crackdown also included dangerous car chases against female drivers, mass confiscation of their vehicles, imprisonment, whippings and other acts amounting to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
On July 22, 2024, agents of the Iranian police force fired lethal ammunition at the car in which 31-year-old Arezou Badri was riding, seriously injuring her. According to media reports, agents were seeking to seize the car as part of enforcement of mandatory hijab laws.
In August 2024, a disturbing video circulated on social media showed multiple agents violently attacking two 14-year-old girls who had taken off their headscarves. One of the girls, Nafas Hajisharif, told the media: “They pulled my hair, yelled at me, cursed… When they took me into the van, they Thrown me to the floor. A female agent hit me, put her knee on my throat and hit my head hard. My head got stuck between the seats and they kicked me in the side of my torso.
National entities are conducting a sweeping attack on women and girls who claim the human rights of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, religion, belief and autonomy. Enforcers of Iran’s degrading and discriminatory mandatory hijab law include the Moral Security Police (police akhraj), traffic police, prosecutors, courts, intelligence ministry, Revolutionary Guards (including Basij units) and plainclothes agents.
Meanwhile, Iran’s parliament is about to pass a “bill in support of chastity and hijab culture” that aims to legitimize authorities’ intensified attacks on women and girls who resist the mandatory wearing of hijab.
Increase the use of the death penalty
Since the Women’s Lives for Freedom uprising, the Iranian authorities have doubled down on their use of the death penalty, with the number of executions in 2023 reaching the highest level in eight years. The authorities have used the death penalty as a repressive tool to intimidate the public, including the persecuted Baloch minority, who are disproportionately affected by executions .
Since December 2022, authorities have arbitrarily executed 10 men in connection with the protests from September to December 2022, including Gholamreza Rasaei, who was secretly executed on August 6, 2024.
The executions followed grossly unfair sham trials that relied on “confessions” obtained through torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence, without an independent and impartial investigation.
More than a dozen people, including Mojahed Kukuri, still face execution or the death penalty over the protests.
This escalation included the use of the death penalty against women on politically motivated charges. Human rights defender Sharifeh Mohammadi and Kurdish civil society activist Pakhshan Azizi were recently convicted “Armed rebellion against the state” (bag) and were sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in different cases simply for their peaceful activities. Shocking reports indicate that they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in detention. At least two other women, Wrisha Moradi and Nasim Gholami Simiyari, are also on trial for “arming rebellion against the state” (bag) under different circumstances.
weaponizing sexual violence
Over the past two years, authorities have continued to deny that officers tortured and otherwise abused detainees during protests, including rape and other forms of sexual violence.
During the uprising, Iranian security and intelligence forces engaged in widespread torture and other ill-treatment of detained protesters. In December 2023, Amnesty International detailed harrowing rape practices, including gang rape and other forms of sexual violence, used by Iranian authorities to suppress protests, intimidate and punish protesters, including children as young as 12 .
In March 2024, the High Commission for Human Rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran (which is not an independent body but is part of the judiciary) responded to the Amnesty International investigation by stating that the Iranian judiciary had investigated the complaints and “found that in 31 cases , with 28 cases across provinces, and no complaints of rape, assault and sexual harassment, however, Amnesty International has consistently documented how prosecutors and judicial authorities dismissed or covered up evidence of sexual violence, including complaints from survivors.
In three provinces where officials said they had received allegations of sexual violence by intelligence and security forces, authorities claimed the men were pretending to be law enforcement officers. However, an official document from Tehran’s deputy prosecutor leaked in October 2022 admitted that two alleged perpetrators of rapes of protesters were Revolutionary Guard agents and recommended that the case be classified as “completely secret.”
The crisis of systemic impunity
Iranian officials suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law and other human rights violations continue to evade justice.
In March 2024, the Special Committee to Review the 2022 Unrest, the non-judicial and biased commission established by the late president to promote the official campaign of denial, distortion and cover-up, issued its report. The commission claimed that security forces “acted responsibly” in response to the protests despite their consistent and well-documented use of unlawful force, including deadly force.
The United Nations Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Iran (FFMI) in April 2024, but the Iranian authorities have persisted in refusing to cooperate with the independent body and deny its members access to the country.
Amnesty International responds to the FFMI’s recommendations to all countries to launch criminal investigations against Iranian officials who have reason to suspect of committing crimes under international law, in accordance with the principle of universal jurisdiction, regardless of whether the defendants are present in its territory, and to initiate “structural sanctions”. The overall circumstances surrounding the 2022 protests are being investigated, but no suspects have been identified.
