Amnesty International: Suppression of “Woman, Life, Freedom” Constitutes Crime Against Humanity

Amnesty International, marking the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising, announced that officials of the Islamic Republic committed crimes against humanity during the suppression of the 2022 protests. The organization documented killings, torture, rape, sexual violence, and forced disappearances, and called for accountability of perpetrators. Reza Pahlavi also, on the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death, described these protests as part of a path that has today, according to him, reached the struggle for “reclaiming Iran.”

Amnesty International on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, corresponding to September 25, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini and the outbreak of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising, released a new and detailed report on the suppression of the 2022 protests.

The organization stated in its report that officials of the Islamic Republic, between September and December 2022, as part of an organized policy to suppress the protests, committed a series of acts that constitute crimes against humanity. These cases include killings, torture, arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as harassment and persecution of various groups.

Amnesty International stated that its investigation was based on interviews with 270 people and review of over two thousand videos and a vast volume of documents, including official documents, leaked materials, court rulings, and medical and forensic records.

The organization also prepared a list of 87 Islamic Republic officials who, according to Amnesty International, should be subject to criminal investigation regarding their role in committing crimes against humanity. This list includes senior security officials as well as provincial and city officials.

In another report released simultaneously with this investigation, Amnesty International documented the names and details of 377 protesters and citizens who lost their lives during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising.

According to this list, 56 of the victims were children. Amnesty International says most of these individuals were killed by security forces during the suppression of protests between September and December 2022; others died in detention, after release, or under suspicious circumstances, which according to the organization raises the responsibility of government forces.

The organization also emphasized that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic played a principal role in the suppression operations, and in numerous cases, military weapons and pellet ammunition were used against protesters.

In its new report, Amnesty International does not separate the suppression of 2022 from subsequent developments in Iran, and believes that the continued impunity of perpetrators of suppression has provided the grounds for the recurrence of more widespread violence.

The organization places the suppression of December 2024 protests within the same framework and states that the pattern of the government’s treatment of protesters bore similar signs to the suppression of four years ago, but occurred on a much larger and more deadly scale. Amnesty International also spoke of the killing of a large number of protesters on January 8 and 9, 2026, corresponding to December 18 and 19, 2024.

From this organization’s perspective, the continued absence of accountability for past suppression has increased the risk of recurrence of widespread crimes against citizens. Amnesty International has asked the United Nations to establish an international criminal justice mechanism to address cases of crimes against humanity in Iran.

The organization has also called for Iran’s situation to be referred to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and asked various countries to, if sufficient evidence exists, use the principle of universal jurisdiction to initiate criminal investigations into officials of the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, officials of the Islamic Republic have rejected allegations of committing crimes against humanity during the 2022 protests and attributed responsibility for the violence to domestic and external factors.

Coinciding with the fourth anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death, Reza Pahlavi also, in a message recalling the victims of the 2022 protests, described this uprising as part of a process that, according to him, ultimately led to the struggle for political change in Iran.

In this message, he called the Islamic Republic, using a historical and symbolic term, “the executioners of Zahak” and remembered Mahsa Amini and other victims of the protests.

Prince Reza Pahlavi’s message reads as follows:

“Four years have passed since the executioners of Zahak took the life of Iran’s daughter, Mahsa Amini. The Islamic Republic thought it could trample Mahsa’s blood like the blood of so many others, but an Iran rose up for her.

Zahak, to show that he had not killed Mahsa, also targeted the hearts of other young people: from Nika and Sarina to Kian and Khodanoor, from Hamidrezah and Majidrezah to hundreds of other children of Iran.

Four years later, the Iranian nation stands at another stage of that same struggle. The path that ran through previous uprisings has today reached the glorious revolution of the Lion and the Sun; a place where the struggles of the Iranian nation, with all the experiences and costs behind them, have joined in a single national goal: reclaiming Iran from the criminal regime that has held our homeland hostage for nearly half a century.

This national solidarity did not come overnight. Behind it lies a long, difficult, and costly path; a path the Iranian nation began with the grand gathering at Cyrus’s Day in November 2016 and gave further experience and maturity to in December 2017, November 2019, and the uprisings of 2022 and 2024, uprisings that each shaped part of the pillars of Iran’s national revolution.

Every sacrificed life placed a responsibility on our shoulders, and every rise and fall prepared the Iranian nation for the next step. Until today, when Iranians stand united under their national flag to reclaim Iran.

The memory of Mahsa Amini and all the brave women and men who sacrificed their lives for Iran’s freedom will forever be immortalized in the memory of the Iranian nation.

We will continue their path until freedom and the reclaiming of Iran.

Long live Iran, Reza Pahlavi”

Four years after Mahsa Amini’s death, her name remains linked to one of the most extensive protest movements in the history of the Islamic Republic; a movement that began with protest against mandatory hijab and the death of a young woman and evolved into a broader demand for freedom, human rights, and change in Iran’s political structure.

Amnesty International’s new report, along with documenting extensive cases of human rights violations, has once again brought the issue of accountability of Islamic Republic officials to the center of international attention. For families of the deceased and victims, the issue is not merely documenting victims; rather, the pursuit of truth, justice, and ensuring the prevention of such suppression remains a key demand.

From the perspective of human dignity and freedom of conscience, no government should respond to the right to life, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, or the right to peaceful protest of its citizens with torture, sexual violence, disappearance, or massacre. The question of justice for victims also transcends political competition and relates to the principle of accountability for human lives.