Iran

Blow to justice for 1988 prison massacres - PUBLIC STATEMENT - 18/06/2024

The shocking release of former Iranian prison official Hamid Nouri, sentenced to life imprisonment by a Swedish court in relation to his role in the 1988 prison massacres, following a prisoner exchange deal between Iran and Sweden, is a stunning blow to survivors and relatives of victims and contributes to the crisis of impunity in Iran. Read more.

Risk of protest-related executions after unfair trials - URGENT ACTION UPDATE - 22/05/2024

At least eight individuals in Iran are under sentence of death in connection with the 'Women Life Freedom' uprising of 2022, and nine others have been arbitrarily executed following grossly unfair sham trials. The authorities have severely violated their fair trial rights and subjected many to torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings, electric shocks and sexual violence. Concerns of further protest related executions are mounting amid an ongoing execution spree. Take action.

President's death must not deny victims their right to accountability - NEWS - 22/05/2024

The death of president Ebrahim Raisi must not deny people in Iran their right to justice, truth and reparation for the litany of crimes under international law and human rights violations committed since the 1980s during his time in the echelons of power. Read more.

Execution risk for tortured dissident rapper - URGENT ACTION - 16/05/2024

Dissident rapper, Toomaj Salehi, is at risk of execution after a Revolutionary Court in Esfahan sentenced him to death in April 2024 solely in relation to his participation in the 'Women Life Freedom' uprising and social media posts critical of the Iranian authorities. His trial was grossly unfair, and authorities dismissed his complaints of torture, including electric shocks, death threats and repeated beatings resulting in bone fractures and vision impairment in one eye. Take action.

Women and girls face violent crackdown - URGENT ACTION - 07/05/2024

Iranian authorities are waging a 'war on women' to punish defiance of forced veiling in the wake of the 'Woman Life Freedom' uprising. Since April 2024, security forces have intensified their enforcement of compulsory veiling in public spaces through subjecting women and girls to constant surveillance, beatings, sexual violence, electric shocks, arbitrary arrest and detention, and other harassment. Take action.

Amnesty International's latest report features excerpts from the testimonies of 20 individuals - 17 women, one girl, and two men - in Iran gathered by Amnesty in February 2024. These testimonies provide a frightening glimpse into the Iranian authorities' persecution of women and girls, designed to wear down their courageous resistance to the country's abusive, degrading and discriminatory compulsory veiling laws. Read more.

Iran's parliament had previously passed a bill that would impose further draconian penalties severely violating women's and girl's rights as well as increasing prison terms and fines for defying Iran's degrading and discriminatory compulsory veiling laws. Read more.

Protest-related execution imminent for tortured man - URGENT ACTION UPDATE - 01/052024

Iranian-Kurdish man Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei, from the Yaresan religious minority, is at imminent risk of execution in relatin to the 'Women Life Freedom' uprising. He has exhausted all legal avenues and could be executed at any moment. He was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial that relied on his torture-tainted forced 'confessions' obtained under beatings, electric shocks, suffocation, suspension and sexual violence. Take action.

On 16 December 2023, Branch 17 of the Supreme Court had upheld his conviction and death sentence for 'murder', which were issued by a criminal court. On 31 December, his sentence was sent for implementation, amid an ongoing alarming spike in executions across the country.

Human rights in Iran: Review of 2023/2024 - ANNUAL REPORT - 24/04/2024

Amnesty International's annual report on the state of human rights in Iran during 2023/2024 can be found here.

Executions reach eight-year high amid relentless repression - REPORT - 04/04/2024

Robust international action is urgently needed to halt a horrifying surge in executions that saw Iran's prisons transformed into sites of mass killings in 2023. At least 481 executions - more than half of the total 853 executions recorded in 2023 - were carried out for drug-related offences. Read more. Take action.

Joint NGO letter to member states of Human Rights Council - JOINT OPEN LETTER - 18/03/2024

Amnesty International was among a number of human rights organisations to call on member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council to support the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the extension of the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran at the 55th session of the Human Rights Council. The continuation of these two distinct and complementary mandates is essential for the Human Rights Council to fulfil its mandate of promotion and protection of human rights in Iran. Read more.

Amnesty's interactive dialogue with the Fact-Finding Mission can be found here.

Amnesty's oral statement to the United Nations Human Rights Committee can be found here.

Amnesty's oral statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council under Item 4 General Debate at HRC54 can be found here.

Executions plunge into new realms of cruelty - NEWS - 24/01/2024

The Iranian authorities' executions of two men after egregiously unfair trials mark a harrowing descent into new realms of cruelty.

At dawn on 23 January 2024, the authorities arbitrarily executed Mohammed Ghobadlou. a 23-year old protester with a mental disability, following a process and ruling shrouded in secrecy. On the same day, they also arbitrarily executed Farhad Salimi (see Urgent Action dated 12 January 2024 below), a man from Iran's Kurdish Sunni minority whose decade-long pleas for a fair retrial excluding torture-tainted 'confessions', were ignored. Read more.

Sign Amnesty International's petition calling for a halt to the execution spree here.

Amnesty documents

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Updated 18/06/2024

Country coordinators - Vacant