IRAN: MASSACRE OF PROTESTERS DEMANDS GLOBAL DIPLOMATIC ACTION TO SIGNAL AN END TO IMPUNITY

This spiral of bloodshed and impunity must end. Even by the Iranian authorities’ own bleak record of committing gross human rights violations and crimes under international law during successive waves of protests, the severity and scale of killings and repression since 8 January is unprecedented

Verified videos and credible information from eyewitnesses in Iran reveal mass unlawful killings committed on an unprecedented scale amidst an ongoing internet shutdown imposed by the authorities since 8 January to conceal their crimes, Amnesty International said today.

The organization is urging UN Member states to recognize that systemic and continuing impunity for the crimes committed by security forces in current and past protests has emboldened Iranian authorities to persist in their criminal conduct. Since 28 December, the escalating lethal repression to crush the mostly peaceful uprising has led to the unprecedented loss of life during protest dispersals, with the death toll rising to 2,000 by official admission.

UN member states must take immediate and coordinated action to deter further bloodshed, including by convening special sessions at the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council. To signal an end to the era of impunity and to deter further bloodshed, member states should also consider establishing international justice mechanisms aimed at pursuing prompt criminal investigations and prosecutions of those who have committed crimes under international law and gross human rights violations. States must also call on the Security Council to refer the Iran situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“This spiral of bloodshed and impunity must end. Even by the Iranian authorities’ own bleak record of committing gross human rights violations and crimes under international law during successive waves of protests, the severity and scale of killings and repression since 8 January is unprecedented,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“As large sectors of Iranian society flooded the streets braving bullets, Iran’s Supreme Leader and security forces have waged their deadliest crackdown yet. The authorities have deliberately turned to mass killings of protesters who have been demanding fundamental change and transition from the Islamic Republic system to a new system of government which respects peoples’ human rights and dignity. The international community must take urgent diplomatic action to protect protesters from further massacres and confront the impunity that is driving the state policy of bloodshed.”

The international community must take urgent diplomatic action to protect protesters from further massacres and confront the impunity that is driving the state policy of bloodshed

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

According to evidence gathered by Amnesty International, security forces positioned on the streets and rooftops, including of residential buildings, mosques and police stations, have repeatedly fired rifles and shotguns loaded with metal pellets, targeting unarmed protesters frequently in their heads and torsos. Medical facilities are overwhelmed with the injured while distraught families have been searching for their missing loved ones among body bags near overflowing morgues and witnessed bodies piled up in pick-up trucks, freight containers or warehouses.

Amnesty International has analysed dozens of videos and photographs pertaining to the protest crackdowns since 8 January from 10 cities in the provinces of Alborz, Gilan, Kermanshah, Razavi Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchestan and Tehran. The organization also consulted an independent pathologist regarding photographs and videos showing fatal or severe injuries.

Human rights defenders and journalists outside Iran shared with Amnesty International screenshots of text or voice messages from 38 individuals in 16 cities across nine provinces in Iran. Additionally, the organization spoke to three informed sources in Iran, including a medical worker and two protesters, and 16 informed sources outside Iran including victims’ relatives, human rights defenders, journalists and an eyewitness who left Iran on 12 January.   

The evidence gathered by Amnesty International points to a coordinated nationwide escalation in the security forces’ unlawful use of lethal force against mostly peaceful protesters and bystanders since the evening of 8 January.

According to video analysis and eyewitness accounts, security forces involved in the deadly crackdown include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including its Basij battalions, and various divisions of Iran’s police force, known by its Persian acronym FARAJA, as well as plain-clothes agents.

Verified audiovisual evidence depicts severe and, in some cases, fatal injuries, including gunshot wounds to the head, including eyes, as well as individuals lying motionless on streets or being carried away amid what is believed to be continued sound of gunshots. Other footage shows patients bleeding profusely or appearing lifeless on hospital floors. In several videos, the people filming state that individuals have been killed.

At least two videos show security forces chasing and directly firing at fleeing protesters who appear to pose no threat warranting the use of force, let alone firearms or other prohibited weapons.

In an account shared with Amnesty International, a journalist from Tehran said:

“Tell the world that unspeakable crimes are being committed in Iran… Tell the world that if they do nothing, they [authorities] will turn the country into a graveyard.”

The ongoing internet shutdown has severely impeded the ability of victims, journalists and human rights organizations to conduct in-depth interviews and document violations, increasing the risk that evidence will be lost.

Tell the world that if they do nothing, they [authorities] will turn the country into a graveyard.

A journalist from Tehran

Amnesty International renews its call on Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, to immediately issue orders for security forces to stop the unlawful use of force and firearms and immediately restore full internet access.

It is long overdue for states and the international community to pursue comprehensive international justice and to address the decades-long and systemic impunity that has enabled Iranian authorities to persistently commit crimes under international law and to eradicate dissent and deny findings on crimes against humanity by the UN Fact Finding Mission on Iran. Such a comprehensive justice approach requires international responses, including an ICC investigation (following a referral by the UN Security Council) and the establishment of international justice mechanisms for Iran, as well as coordinated national-level responses through states undertaking criminal investigations and prosecutions pursuant to the principle of universal jurisdiction.