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Nation in the Dark: Iranians Endure Nearly 1,000 Hours Without Internet
Nation in the Dark: Iranians Endure Nearly 1,000 Hours Without Internet
Amnesty International April 10, 20261000 hours of not being able to contact your family. 1000 hours without news from the outside world.
1000 hours without access to essential information. 90 million people in Iran have now lived under digital darkness for 1000 hours.
Iranian authorities have cut off Iranians from the outside world since 28 February, preventing people from accessing essential information and contacting loved ones. Internet shutdowns are a human rights issue.
Authorities must immediately restore internet access. -
Iran: Recruitment of child soldiers as young as 12 amounts to a war crime
Iran: Recruitment of child soldiers as young as 12 amounts to a war crime
Amnesty International April 2, 2026
Iranian authorities are trampling upon children’s rights and committing a grave violation of international humanitarian law amounting to a war crime by recruiting and mobilizing children as young as 12 into a military campaign led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Amnesty International said today.
On 26 March 2026, a deputy of the IRGC Mohammad Rasoul Allah Corps of Greater Tehran, Rahim Nadali, announced that a recruitment campaign called the “Homeland-Defending Combatants for Iran” is “open to volunteers” aged 12 and above, encouraging registrations at Basij bases in mosques across Tehran to join “combatants defending the homeland.” Eyewitness accounts and verified audiovisual evidence show child soldiers having been deployed at IRGC checkpoints and patrols, armed with weapons, including AK47pattern rifles.
“The Iranian authorities are shamelessly encouraging children as young as 12 to join an IRGC run military campaign, putting them in grave danger and violating international law, which prohibits the recruitment and use of children in the military. Recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces constitutes a war crime,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.
“As US and Israeli strikes hit thousands of IRGC sites, including Basij facilities, across the country, including through drone attacks targeting security patrols and checkpoints, the deployment of child soldiers alongside IRGC personnel or in their facilities puts them at grave risk of death and injury. Iranian authorities must immediately stop their criminal assault on children’s rights and prohibit the recruitment of anyone under 18 by the armed forces.”
According to official statements, under announced campaign, recruits are being assigned to a range of activities linked to the IRGC’s “operational and security” activities, including patrols, checkpoint duties, logistical support, distribution of equipment and supplies, and assisting with food, medical and relief tasks.
Amnesty International has analysed 16 photos and videos that have appeared online since 21 March 2026, showing children wielding weapons such as AK-pattern assault rifles or standing alongside IRGC and other forces at checkpoints, on patrols and during state-organized militarized rallies in Tehran, Mashad and Kermanshah.
On 29 March, 11-year-old boy, Alireza Jafari, was killed, while accompanying his father, a member of the IRGC’s Basij, at a checkpoint in Tehran, laying bare the devastating consequences of the presence of children at military objectives. Authorities have confirmed that the child was killed “while serving” at a checkpoint following an Israeli drone attack.
The boy’s mother told Hamshahri newspaper that on the night of the incident, her husband reported a “shortage of personnel” at checkpoints and took their sons, Alireza Jafari and his younger nine-year-old brother, with him. She added that her husband said Alireza “must get prepared for the days ahead” and that currently, children as young as 15 and 16 commonly take part in checkpoint duties.
A Senior Reporter for BBC Persian Forensic, Ghoncheh Habibiazad, shared with Amnesty International screenshots of text messages received from four eyewitnesses in Tehran, Karaj, and Rasht who reported seeing children deployed at Basijrun checkpoints and armed with weapons, including AK47pattern rifles, in March 2026.
One of the eyewitnesses from Tehran wrote:
Another eyewitness from Karaj wrote:
An eyewitness from Rasht wrote on 30 March:
“I have seen children wielding weapons. They wear masks to cover their faces, but it is obvious they are kids. They have not even grown in height… some appear to be 13 years old at most… I saw [several] children standing in front of mosques [where Basij bases are located], ahead of the actual forces. I keep thinking their brains aren’t developed like adults and they might actually fire randomly. I am both scared of them and feel sad for them.”
In a video posted online on 30 March 2026, filmed in Mashhad at Shariati Square, two children, visibly identifiable from their height and stature, are seen wearing Basij camouflage uniforms and balaclavas and carrying AK‑pattern assault rifles while positioned on a white car during a state-organized rally. One child is visible standing through a side window, while the other appears positioned through the top window of the vehicle. The footage shows the children elevated above the crowd as the car moves through the square, with people around them cheering and waving flags.
The recruitment announcement was circulated alongside a poster depicting a man in a uniform belonging to the Basij battalions of the IRGC, a woman in civilian dress, and two children, a boy and a girl. The poster promoted the campaign under the slogan “Basij with people, for people,” and featured a quote from the late Supreme Leader and commander-in-chief of the armed forces Ali Khamenei, stating that “Basijis must remain at the heart of the field for the main virtues of the Revolution to stay alive.”
In an interview aired by state media, a deputy of the IRGC Mohammad Rasoul Allah Corps of Greater Tehran, Rahim Nadali, spoke of the “high enthusiasm” among teenagers to join “intelligence and operational patrols,” saying:
“Teenagers and youth have repeatedly come forward saying they want to take part… Given the ages of those making these requests, we have set the minimum age at 12. There are now kids aged 12-13 who want to be present in this space.”
Abusive legislative framework enabling the enlistment of children
The latest recruitment of children is enabled by the IRGC Recruitment Regulations Law, which divides the IRGC personnel into two categories: official guards and Basijis. Article 13 defines Basijis as ordinary, active, and special Basijis. Ordinary Basijis are described as individuals “from various segments of society who believe in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the goals of the Islamic Revolution”. After completing general training, they join and are organized within the “20-million-strong army”, a term coined by the first Supreme Leader, Rouhollah Khomeini, shortly after the 1979 Revolution, and during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) became known as a reference to state efforts at mass mobilization of children and youth into military campaigns.
Article 93 explicitly allows children under 15 to become ordinary Basijis, effectively setting no minimum age.
Active Basijis are ordinary Basijis who “volunteer to be organized” and can “collaborate with the IRGC in carrying out assigned missions” after completing training. Article 94 allows children aged 15 and above to qualify as active Basijis.
Special Basijis, also described as “honorary guards”, are those who “possess the qualifications of an [official] guard and, after completing the training stipulated in this law, are organized and commit to being available fulltime to the IRGC when needed.” Article 16 allows children as young as 16 to become special Basijis.
Although authorities frequently describe Basijis as “popular forces” or “the people’s forces” of the IRGC, in reality these units are not voluntary. Basij members receive financial compensation. Various laws and policies also require the government to provide Basij agents with preferential access to employment opportunities, housing facilities and loans, and admission advantages for higher education institutions, all of which heighten the risk of recruitment of children from impoverished communities, particularly in a context marked by severe economic hardship.
Iranian authorities must immediately issue explicit instructions to prohibit military forces in Iran, including the Basij structures of the IRGC, from enlisting children under 18 and ensure that existing Basijis and other members of the armed forces who are under the age of 18 years are immediately released from service..
Iran is a party to the the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits recruitment of children under 15. The Optional Protocol to the Convention, which Iran has signed but not ratified, prohibits the compulsory recruitment by states of children under-18, as well as the use of under 18s in hostilities. Under customary international humanitarian law, which is legally binding on Iran, conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 into the armed forces or groups, or using them to participate actively in hostilities constitutes a war crime.
Background
According to Iranian authorities, Israeli-USA strikes have killed more than 1,900 people, including 249 women and 216 children. In one egregious incident, a USA strike on a school in Minab killed 168 people, including more than 100 children. Amnesty International’s investigation into the attack found that the school was directly hit with precision-guided munitions and that USA forces failed to do everything feasible to verify that the intended target was a military objective.
Attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran have killed at least 16 in Israel, four in the West Bank and 23 in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.
The Iranian authorities have a record of violating international humanitarian law by recruiting children, particularly during the 1980s when, by their own admission, over 550,000 children were sent as child soldiers to the Iran–Iraq war, and at least 36,000 of them were killed.
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More Iranians face execution over protests, U.N. rights chief warns
More Iranians face execution over protests, U.N. rights chief warns“I am horrified by reports that at least eight people, including two children, have been sentenced to death in connection with the protests,” Volker Turk said.
Reuters Feb. 27, 2026The U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk on Friday called for an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Iran, warning that dozens more people risk execution after the first death sentence linked to January mass protests was issued this week.
“I am horrified by reports that at least eight people, including two children, have been sentenced to death in connection with the protests,” Turk said in a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, adding that another 30 people appeared to be at risk of the same sentence.
A revolutionary court in Tehran issued a death sentence for an Iranian man accused of “enmity against god” which if confirmed would be the first such sentence linked to mass protests in January, a source close to the man’s family said.
Rights groups say thousands of people were killed in a crackdown on the protests, the worst domestic unrest in Iran since the era of its 1979 Islamic Revolution. During the unrest, President Donald Trump warned Tehran that he could order military action if it carried out executions.
“I am extremely alarmed about the potential for regional military escalation and its impact on civilians, and I hope the voice of reason prevails,” Turk said in the same speech.
Talks in Geneva on Thursday between the United States and Iran made progress over Tehran’s nuclear program, mediator Oman said, but there was no sign of a breakthrough that could avert potential U.S. strikes amid a massive military buildup.
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Iran: Children among 30 people at risk of the death penalty amid expedited grossly unfair trials connected to uprising
Iran: Children among 30 people at risk of the death penalty amid expedited grossly unfair trials connected to uprising
Amnesty International 20 February 2026
The Iranian authorities must immediately halt all plans to execute eight individuals sentenced to death after being convicted of committing offences during the January 2026 nationwide protests, Amnesty International said today. The organization is urging authorities to quash their convictions and death sentences, and promptly put an end to expedited torture-tainted grossly unfair trials against at least 22 others in connection to the uprising.
The organization has gathered information about at least 30 individuals facing the death penalty for alleged offences linked to the January 2026 protests. They include at least eight individuals convicted and sentenced to death in February within weeks of their arrests. They are Saleh Mohammadi, aged 18, Mohammad Amin Biglari, aged 19, Ali Fahim, Abolfazl Salehi Siavashani, Amirhossein Hatami, Shahin Vahedparast Kolor, Shahab Zohdi and Yaser Rajaifar.
At least 22 others, including two 17-year-old children, are at risk of the death penalty as they undergo or await trial proceedings marred by torture-tainted “confessions” and other serious violations of the right to a fair trial, including denial of access to lawyers during the investigation phase, and refusal to recognize independent legal counsel appointed by families for trial.
“The Iranian authorities are once again laying bare the depth of their disregard for the right to life and justice by threatening expedited executions and imposing death sentences in fast-tracked trials, only weeks after arrest. In weaponizing the death penalty, they are seeking to instill fear and crush the spirit of a population demanding fundamental change,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
“Children and young adults form the bulk of those caught in the machinery of state repression following the January protests, denied access to effective legal representation and subjected to torture or other ill-treatment and incommunicado detention to extract forced ‘confessions’. The international community must take coordinated global action, pressuring the Iranian authorities to stop using the court system as a conveyor belt for executions.”
Amnesty International believes the real number of those at risk of the death penalty is much higher as authorities systematically warn families against speaking out and subject those detained to incommunicado detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment to extract forced “confessions”.
The international community must take coordinated global action, pressuring the Iranian authorities to stop using the court system as a conveyor belt for executions
Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director
Officials have arrested thousands of protesters and dissidents in connection to the January 2026 uprising, and repeatedly threatened to seek “the maximum punishment [meaning the death penalty] … without any delays… in the shortest possible time”.
Amnesty International is calling on all UN member states as well as international and regional bodies to take urgent coordinated diplomatic action, demanding that the Iranian authorities: quash the convictions and death sentences; refrain from issuing further death sentences; and ensure that anyone charged with a recognizable criminal offence is tried in accordance with the right to a fair trial without recourse to the death penalty.
All states must also press the Iranian authorities to grant UN Special Procedures and the UN Fact‑Finding Mission on Iran, as well as representatives of embassies in Iran, access to detention facilities and the ability to observe trials.
Amnesty International has issued an Urgent Action urging global activism to stop the executions.
Torture and grossly unfair proceedings
Saleh Mohammadi, aged 18, was sentenced to death by Criminal Court One in Qom on 4 February, less than three weeks after his arrest on 15 January 2026 in connection with the death of a security agent during protests in Qom on 8 January 2026, an accusation he denies. The verdict, reviewed by Amnesty International, shows that he retracted his “confessions” in court saying they were extracted under torture, but the court dismissed this without any investigation. An informed source said he sustained hand fractures as a result of beatings.
Mohammad Amin Biglari, aged 19, and six others Ali Fahim, Abolfazl Salehi Siavashani, Amirhossein Hatami, Shahin Vahedparast Kolor, Shahab Zohdi and Yaser Rajaifar were sentenced to death for “enmity against god” (moharebeh) by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran for allegedly setting a Basij base on fire. Their death sentences were issued on 9 February, about a month after their arrest. An informed source said Mohammad Amin Biglari was forcibly disappeared for weeks before his transfer to Ghezel Hesar prison in Alborz province. Authorities denied him access to a lawyer during investigations then assigned him a state-appointed lawyer who failed to represent his interests during a fast-tracked trial based on forced “confessions”. They have since denied an independent lawyer, appointed by his family, access to his casefile, hindering his ability to file an appeal before the Supreme Court.
Ehsan Hosseinipour Hesarloo, 18, Matin Mohammadi and Erfan Amiri, both 17, are undergoing a fast-tracked, torture-tainted grossly unfair trial before Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran for alleged involvement in an 8 January 2026 fire at a Basij base inside a mosque in Pakdasht, Tehran province, that killed two Basij agents. An informed source told Amnesty International that Basij agents arrested the teenagers earlier that day, before the incident, and that Ehsan was forced to “confess” after severe beatings and when interrogators put a gun in his mouth. The source said the judge has refused to recognize the representation of at least three lawyers chosen by Ehsan’s family, threatened them, and imposed a state‑appointed lawyer who failed to defend him effectively.
His 17‑year‑old co‑defendants remain in a detention facility for children, facing capital charges, despite international human rights law strictly prohibiting the imposition of the death penalty on those aged under 18 at the time of alleged offence.
Others facingsimilar fast‑tracked, torture‑tainted trials include 35-year-old Abolfazl Karimi, arrested on 6 January in Tehran after trying to help two women shot in the legs. An informed source told Amnesty International he was shot with metal pellets, beaten, denied medical care for his injuries, and forced to sign self‑incriminating statements while blindfolded. Around 12 February, he and 13 others arrested in connection to protests on unclear charges were told by the judge presiding over Branch 15 of Revolutionary Court in Tehran that they were “being sentenced to death”.
Others at risk include Shervin Bagherian Jebeli, 18, Danial Niazi, 18, Mohammad Abbasi, 55, and Amirhossein Azarpira, 24, and Mohammadreza Tabari.
Urgent need for comprehensive international justice approach
Widespread patterns of torture and enforced disappearances in Iran along with arbitrary deprivation of life, including through both mass unlawful killings during protest dispersals and arbitrary executions, have continued and remain rooted in systemic impunity.
Amnesty International renews its call on UN member states and regional and international bodies to pursue a comprehensive international justice approach.
States must call on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Iran to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. They 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 other serious human rights violations.
At the national level, states should also initiate coordinated criminal investigations under universal or other forms of extraterritorial jurisdiction, with a view to issuing arrest warrants and initiating prosecutions where sufficient evidence exists.
Background
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner. The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
Since the Woman Life Freedom uprising of 2022, authorities have increasingly weaponized the death penalty to instill fear, crush dissent and punish marginalized communities. In 2025, the authorities carried out the highest number of executions recorded since 1989.
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Iranian Regime is Turning Healthcare into a Weapon
Iranian Regime is Turning Healthcare into a Weapon
Defense Opinion – February 8, 2026, By Dr. Azadeh Sami
Iran’s ongoing human rights crisis has taken a dangerous and well-documented turn: the deliberate targeting of healthcare workers, patients and medical facilities.
Credible news media reports, such as from the BBC and the Guardian, and from reputable non-governmental organizations confirm that hospitals are sites of surveillance, detention and violence. Injured civilians have been denied treatment, tracked through medical records and arrested within healthcare settings. The regime is detaining physicians, nurses and other medical professionals, interrogating them and, in some cases, killing them for fulfilling their ethical obligation to treat the wounded.
“Doctors are being arrested in Iran for helping save the lives of some of the tens of thousands injured during Iran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests, with at least one surgeon now at risk of being sentenced to death,” a news report noted.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has decried attacks against Iranian medical personnel.
“I am deeply concerned by multiple reports of health personnel and medical facilities in Iran being impacted by the recent insecurity and prevented from delivering their essential services to people requiring care,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
He cited reports late last month of “health workers assaulted, and at least five doctors detained, while treating injured patients.”
These are not isolated abuses. They reflect a systematic campaign to dismantle medical neutrality. They constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law, core principles of medical ethics and fundamental human rights. The protection of medical care during periods of unrest is not discretionary; it is a binding international norm designed to safeguard human dignity and prevent further harm.
An urgent call for action
In response to these violations, 100 U.S.-based physicians, surgeons and biomedical scientists have issued an urgent call for an immediate end to mass killings and executions, mass detentions and the criminalization of medical care in Iran. In a petition distributed in January from Clinicians for Free Iran, the medical professionals are calling on international medical associations, human rights organizations and governments to take decisive action to protect healthcare workers and patients.
“We are particularly alarmed that hospitals and medical facilities are now besieged by regime security forces, blocking access to care, arresting or kidnapping the injured and intimidating healthcare workers, turning places of healing into instruments of repression,” the petition says.
When states weaponize healthcare, the consequences are severe and lasting. Patients avoid seeking care out of fear. Clinicians must choose between their professional oath and their personal safety. The regime is to transform healthcare systems from institutions of healing into instruments of repression.
Harbinger of more violence
History is unequivocal: attacks on healthcare are a signal of deeper moral and legal collapse. In conflict zones and authoritarian regimes alike, the erosion of medical neutrality often precedes broader campaigns of violence. Silence in the face of these abuses enables their continuation.
This is not a political issue confined to Iran. Medical ethics are universal. When a physician is punished for treating a patient anywhere, trust in healthcare is undermined. The international community—and the global medical profession in particular—have a responsibility to respond.
U.S. policymakers should recognize these attacks for what they are and take meaningful action immediately to intervene and stop the violence, protect healthcare workers and patients, restore communications and launch independent investigations into what are crimes against humanity.
Protecting healthcare workers and patients is not a partisan position. It is a moral and legal imperative.
https://defenseopinion.com/iranian-regime-is-turning-healthcare-into-a-weapon/1141
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Analytical Report on the Extrajudicial Killing of 153 Identified Children and Adolescents during the January 2026 Uprising
Analytical Report on the Extrajudicial Killing of 153 Identified Children and Adolescents during the January 2026 Uprising
HRM Feb 4, 2026The nationwide uprising of January 2026 in Iran marks a dark turning point in the history of human rights violations, characterized not only by the scale of the protests but also by the unprecedented brutality of suppressive forces against the most vulnerable segments of society. This report provides a legal and statistical analysis of the killing of children and adolescents under the age of 18—a crime whose documentation reveals a “systematic pattern” for the physical elimination of protesters, regardless of age.
The Political Context of the Crime: Legitimizing State Violence
Ali Khamenei and high-ranking regime officials utilized hostile rhetoric, labeling protesters as “agents of a coup,” “terrorists,” and “mercenaries of the enemy.” This deliberate labeling aimed to strip citizens of their legal protections and provide implicit authorization for the “elimination of dissidents.” When the highest political authority of a country characterizes the protests of adolescents and students as “hybrid warfare,” it effectively grants field forces carte blanche to exercise lethal violence against children. Within this security paradigm, even a three-year-old child or an infant is perceived not as an innocent citizen, but as part of a “subversive project,” thereby rendering the deprivation of their right to life as “legitimate.”
Field Analysis of the Causes of Death: Intentional Lethal Force
Based on human rights documentation and medical reports, the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these children indicate the use of “unnecessary lethal force.” The patterns of child fatalities during this uprising include:
- Direct Fire to Vital Organs: Contrary to official claims, the majority of adolescents died from single gunshot wounds to the forehead, heart, or neck, indicating targeted fire by snipers.
- Brutal Physical Assaults (Batons): Numerous cases of death due to “cerebral hemorrhage” resulting from repeated blows with hard objects to the skull during detention or at the protest scene have been reported.
- Indiscriminate Fire in Residential Areas: The deaths of children such as Adrina Ghorbani (infant) and Bahar Hosseini (3 years old) demonstrate the reckless use of toxic tear gas and indiscriminate firing in residential neighborhoods.
Statistics and the Scope of the Crime
Out of approximately 2,300 victims whose identities have been verified thus far, the names of 153 children and adolescents have been recorded. It should be noted that due to the lack of age-related information for almost half of the 2,300 individuals listed, these statistics represent only the “minimum” extent of the crime, and the actual figures are estimated to be significantly higher. These statistics reveal a harrowing reality: approximately 10% (one-tenth) of all individuals documented as killed by the Iranian regime were children.
Violations of International Conventions
These actions constitute a flagrant violation of the following international treaties to which Iran is a signatory:
- Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 6): Violation of the inherent right to life and the failure to protect children during civil unrest.
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): Arbitrary deprivation of life and extrajudicial killings.
- The Rome Statute: The systematic nature of these killings places them within the category of “crimes against humanity.”
Immediate Mandates
The killing of children in January 2026 transcends mere police crackdowns; it is a “state-sponsored campaign to intimidate society” by targeting its children. The international community must not settle for verbal condemnations. Referring the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and identifying the perpetrators and architects of this “state-sponsored killing of minors” as war criminals is the minimum requirement for justice.
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In videos of funerals held for those killed by security forces in Iran
In videos of funerals held for those killed by security forces in Iran
Amnesty International Feb 4, 2026
In videos of funerals held for those killed by security forces in Iran, families clap, sing, play music and dance to express their grief and show their resistance – celebrating their children, siblings and loved ones.
These mournful expressions are serving both collective acts of resistance against the Islamic Republic system and also showing the world how their loved killed were seeking freedom and dignity.
https://x.com/amnesty/status/2019071915579544000?s=20
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Iran: Authorities unleash heavily militarized clampdown to hide protest massacres
Iran: Authorities unleash heavily militarized clampdown to hide protest massacres
Amnesty International – 23 January 2026
Sweeping arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, bans on gatherings and attacks to silence families of victims mark the suffocating militarization imposed in Iran by the Islamic Republic’s authorities in the aftermath of protest massacres, Amnesty International said today.
Since 8-9 January 2026, when the Iranian authorities committed mass unlawful killings on an unprecedented scale to crush the popular uprising calling for an end to their repressive rule, they have waged a coordinated, militarized clampdown to prevent further dissent and hide their crimes.
The nationwide repression has involved maintaining a complete internet blackout, deploying heavily armed security patrols, imposing nighttime curfews and preventing any gatherings. Security forces have also arrested thousands of protesters and other dissidents, and subjected detainees to enforced disappearance and torture and other ill‑treatment, including sexual violence. Authorities have further relentlessly and cruelly harassed and intimidated bereaved families of killed protesters.
“While people in Iran are still reeling from the grief and shock of the unprecedented massacres during protest dispersals, the Iranian authorities are waging a coordinated attack on the rights of people in Iran to life, dignity and fundamental freedoms in a criminal bid to terrorize the population into silence. Through the ongoing internet shutdown, the authorities are deliberately isolating over 90 million people from the rest of the world to conceal their crimes and evade accountability,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
“The international community must not allow another chapter of mass atrocities in Iran to be buried without consequence. Urgent international action, including steps towards accountability through independent international justice mechanisms, is long overdue to break the cycle of bloodshed and impunity.”
On 21 January 2026, Iran’s Supreme Council of National Security issued a statement that 3,117 people were killed during the uprising. However, on 16 January 2026, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato, said in a media interview that at least 5,000 people had been killed.
Given the gravity of the situation, a Special Session on the human rights situation in Iran is taking place today at the UN Human Rights Council. In a briefing circulated to diplomats in Geneva on 19 January 2026, Iran’s Permanent Representative sought to portray the protests as a foreign-engineered “security threat” in an attempt to avoid international scrutiny. The briefing also falsely claimed that the authorities have “refrained from adopting a broad or indiscriminate hard-security approach” in the aftermath of the uprising, justifying the sweeping internet shutdown as a “public safety” measure.
Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately restore internet access; release all those arbitrarily detained; disclose the fate and whereabouts of all those subjected to enforced disappearance; protect all detainees from torture and other ill-treatment; and grant detainees access to their lawyers, families and any medical care they require. Authorities must also stop the intimidation and harassment of victims’ families.
The information blackout imposed by the Iranian authorities since 8 January 2026 has severely obstructed in-depth documentation of human rights violations. Further, crucial evidence, including videos and photographs recorded on mobile phones, has been lost when security forces confiscated devices from those unlawfully killed or arbitrarily detained.
Despite this, for this press release, Amnesty International was able to speak to a human rights defender and a medical worker in Iran and 13 informed sources outside Iran, including relatives of victims unlawfully killed or detained, human rights defenders and journalists with information about violations in the provinces of Alborz, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Esfahan, Gilan, Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Razavi Khorasan, Tehran, and West Azerbaijan. Amnesty International also analyzed videos published online of the militarized clampdown in Iran and reviewed official statements and reports from independent Iranian human rights organizations.
Mass arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances
According to reports from state-affiliated media published on 16 January 2026, the authorities have arrested thousands of people in relation to the protests. Independent reports and other information received by Amnesty International indicate that tens of thousands of people, including children, have been arbitrarily detained.
The Iranian authorities have carried out sweeping arrests across the country in recent days, seizing people during night‑time home raids, at checkpoints, in workplaces, and from hospitals. In addition to protesters, among those arrested are university students and schoolchildren, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, and members of ethnic and religious minorities.
Amnesty International has received distressing reports indicating that security forces arrested protesters receiving treatment in hospitals. A human rights defender in Iran told Amnesty International that security forces in Esfahan province instructed medical staff in hospitals to notify them about patients with injuries sustained from gunshots and metal pellets. Two informed sources told the organization that security forces in Esfahan and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces arrested wounded protesters from hospitals, including, those needing life-saving medical care. Given well-documented patterns of torture and other ill-treatment during past protest crackdowns, there are serious concerns that security forces will deny adequate medical care to injured protesters removed from hospitals, increasing the risk of deaths in custody.
According to information received by Amnesty International, security forces have threatened medical staff in Esfahan province with prosecution and other harm for treating injured protesters without notifying the authorities.
Detainees’ families, activists and journalists have told Amnesty International that the authorities are routinely refusing to provide any information about the fate and whereabouts of many of those detained, thereby subjecting them to enforced disappearance, a crime under international law. Some detainees have been taken to prisons and other official places of detention, while others are being held in military barracks, warehouses or other makeshift places of detention without official registration, placing them at heightened risk of torture and other ill-treatment.
Informed sources report that security forces have subjected detainees to torture and other ill-treatment during arrest and in detention, including through beatings, sexual violence, threats of summary executions, and deliberate denial of adequate food, water and medical care.
In one case documented by the organization, security forces raided the family home of a protester, Amirhossein Ghaderzadeh, in Rasht, Gilan province, on 9 January 2026 and arrested him. Agents stripped him and his two sisters, one of whom is a 14-year-old child, naked to inspect their bodies for metal pellets to “prove” their participation in protests. Since then, the authorities have refused to disclose his fate and whereabouts to his family, thereby subjecting him to enforced disappearance.
Amnesty International has received reports from informed sources that, amid the systemic denial of access to lawyers, authorities are forcing detainees to sign statements they have not been allowed to read and to give forced “confessions” to crimes they did not commit as well as to peaceful acts of dissent.
In recent days, state media has broadcast dozens of propaganda videos showing detainees “confessing” to peaceful acts such as sending protest images to media outside Iran, as well as to violent acts including vandalism and arson. The Iranian authorities have a long history of broadcasting torture-tainted forced “confessions” to shape public opinion and pave the way for harsh sentences, including the death penalty.
Amid a climate of systemic impunity granted to security forces, Amnesty International is gravely concerned about the recurrence of previously documented patterns of torture and other ill-treatment against detained protesters, including beatings, floggings, electric shocks, mock executions, suspension from the wrist or neck, rape and other forms of sexual violence.
Public statements by senior officials labelling protesters as “terrorists” and “criminals” have compounded fears of further arrests and expedited grossly unfair show trials leading to arbitrary executions.
Since 10 January 2026, the Prosecutor General of Iran and provincial prosecutors have publicly described protesters as mohareb (“an individual accused of waging war against God”), which carries the death penalty in Iran.
On 19 January 2026, the Head of the Judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Eje’i, ordered for rapid prosecutions and “deterrent” punishments. Two days later, he publicly boasted about ordering harsher charges against arrested protesters than those levelled by prosecutors. In a flagrant violation of fair trial rights, he has also interrogated protesters without lawyers present in coerced “confessions” broadcast on state media.
Intimidation of victims’ families
Families of those killed or detained have been subjected to a systematic campaign of intimidation and coercion.
Authorities have pressured relatives into holding burials in the middle of the night in the presence of security forces. Amnesty International has received information from a medical worker who said that in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan province, security forces conducted mass burials without notifying the families of those killed.
According to information gathered by Amnesty International, following the massacres on 8-9 January 2026, many relatives were told that the bodies of their loved ones would be withheld unless they paid extortionate sums of money, signed pledges or made public statements falsely declaring that their deceased relatives were members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Basij battalions, rather than protesters, and blaming their deaths on “terrorists”.
The relative of a woman killed in Tehran province sent Amnesty International screenshots of a conversation with a family member in Iran, who wrote:
“They [authorities] have committed atrocities here. Security forces shot […] and she bled to death because she didn’t receive any medical care… When someone is killed, they don’t easily hand over the body to the family. If the family wants to claim the body, they should write that the person was from the Basij and that they were killed by protesters.”
An informed source told the organization that he knows of at least one victim killed in Tehran province on 8 January 2026 whose family has not been able to recover their relative’s body more than two weeks after his death because they are unable to afford the sum demanded by the authorities.
The authorities have broadcast statements from several grieving families forced to support false state narratives about the unlawful killing of their loved ones. In one case involving the unlawful killing of a two-year-old child who was shot in the head in Neyshabur, Razavi Khorasan province, on 9 January 2026, state media broadcast several propaganda videos seeking to absolve the security forces of responsibility and blame her killing on “terrorists”. One video shows a statement from her father in which an off-camera voice can be heard prompting him on what to say, with the father repeating verbatim. The authorities have not released the child’s full name but reported her first name as “Bahar”.
Amnesty International has learned that many families are still searching for missing loved ones, as the authorities continue to deny them any information about whether their loved ones have been killed or are held in detention.
Militarized environment causing suffocating repression
Since 9 January 2026, the authorities have imposed sweeping military-style control measures across the country. Heavily armed units of security forces have been deployed nationwide, erecting dense networks of checkpoints and armed patrols across cities and inter-city roads.
Security forces routinely stop people’s cars arbitrarily and conduct vehicle and mobile phone searches. Informed sources have told the organization that the authorities have restricted freedom of movement and enforced nighttime curfews. From dusk onwards, security forces order people through loudspeakers to return to their homes and stay there. Such patrols warn that street gatherings of two or more people are prohibited and will result in arrests.
Amnesty International analysed videos published online which support eyewitness accounts of the militarization. A video from Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan province, posted on 15 January 2026, shows security forces patrolling Hashemiyeh and Vakil Abad boulevards on foot and vehicles.
Another video from Borujerd, Lorestan province, published online on 17 January 2026, shows armed security forces in beige camouflage uniforms, equipped with lethal firearms, and vehicles along Takhti Boulevard. The video shows tank trucks and what appear to be repurposed civilian trucks mounted with large nozzles, likely to be used as water cannons.
A third video posted on 15 January 2026 from Tonekabon (Shahsavar), Mazandaran province, shows dozens of security forces vehicles, including motorcycles and an armoured personnel carrier, transporting agents through Shiroudi Boulevard.
Other videos show security forces taunting residents to create an intimidating atmosphere. A video published online on 20 January 2026 shows armed security forces with their faces covered, patrolling streets in residential areas in pick‑up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns and repeatedly ordering residents to “go inside” while chanting phrases hailing the Supreme Leader. Amnesty International was unable to independently verify the location where this footage was recorded.
Iran: Authorities unleash heavily militarized clampdown to hide protest massacres
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Iran: Massacre of Protesters Demands Global Diplomatic Action to Signal an End to Impunity
Iran: Massacre of Protesters Demands Global Diplomatic Action to Signal an End to Impunity
Amnesty International – January 15, 2026
Verified videos and credible information from eyewitnesses in Iran reveal mass unlawful killings committed on an unprecedented scale amid an ongoing internet shutdown imposed by the authorities since January 8 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 protestsopens in a new tab has emboldened Iranian authorities to persist in their criminal conduct. Since December 28, 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 January 8 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.”
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 analyzed dozens of videos and photographs pertaining to the protest crackdowns since January 8 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 January 12.
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 January 8.
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 severeopens in a new tab and, in some cases, fatal injuriesopens in a new tab, including gunshot wounds to the head, including eyes, as well as individuals lying motionless on streets or being carried awayopens in a new tab amid what is believed to be continued sound of gunshots. Other footage shows patients bleeding profusely or appearing lifelessopens in a new tab on hospital floors. In severalopens in a new tab videos, the people filming state that individuals have been killed.
At least two videos show security forces chasingopens in a new tab and directly firingopens in a new tab 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.
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-longopens in a new tab and systemic impunityopens in a new tab that has enabled Iranian authorities to persistently commitopens in a new tab crimes under international lawopens in a new tab and to eradicate dissentopens in a new tab and deny findings on crimes against humanity by the UN Fact Finding Mission on Iranopens in a new tab. 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.
Tehran province
Evidence from verified videos and eyewitness accounts reveal that security forces carried out mass unlawful killings across Tehran province.
On January 10 2026, distressing footage began to emerge of a makeshift morgue set up in an outbuilding of the Legal Medicine Organization (a state forensic institute) in Kahrizak, near Tehran, as an overflow of the official morgue inside the building. Five videos from this morgue show distraught families seeking to identify their deceased relatives among the body bags. Amnesty International analyzed the five videos and, after accounting for potential duplication across the footage, identified the presence of at least 205 distinct body bags.
One of the videosopens in a new tab, published on January 11, 2026, shows a screen inside the facility displaying photos of the deceased, with a changing numerical counter. This appears to be a method adopted by the authorities to enable families to identify their deceased relatives. The counter reaches 250, indicating the staggering number of bodies being processed.
A report publishedopens in a new tab by BBC Persian on January 13, 2026 includes the account of an eyewitness in Kahrizak, who described the scene on January 9:
“They [victims’ families] reached an autopsy hall where bodies were piled on top of each other… There was one room that was so full of bodies the door would not even open… Another room contained the women’s bodies.”
Information sent from three informed sources indicates that, in addition to this central morgue in Kahrizak, victims’ relatives are being directed to cemeteries and hospitals, where bodies have been kept in warehouses and freight containers.
A video filmed at the Behesht Zahra Cemetery complex in Tehran and shared with Amnesty International shows families looking for loved ones among body bags laid outside and in multiple large rooms inside the complex. It is unclear when the video was filmed but the person filming says the bodies were brought in after the violent crackdown on January 8 and 9 2026. Amnesty International analyzed the video and four photographs showing bodies placed in black bags and counted at least 120 body bags. The organization spoke to a victim’s relative who went to the morgue on January 9 to retrieve the body and described harrowing scenes with the cemetery’s morgue overflowing with dead bodies.
Earlier videos from Tehran province show how the deadly crackdown unfolded. A videoopens in a new tab published on January 9, 2026 shows 10-12 bodies inside Alghadir Hospital in the east of Tehran.
A videoopens in a new tab published two days later from Tehranpars, a neighbourhood about one kilometre from Alghadir Hospital, depicts the deadly crackdown in this area of Tehran. The embedded text in the video states that it is from January 8, but Amnesty International could not independently corroborate the exact date the video was filmed. In the video, two protesters appear to be taking cover amid the sounds of continuous gunfire in Rashid 115 Street. The protesters are not visible but one is heard warning the other who is filming:
“Put your phone down. They will shoot your hand. There are snipers among them [security forces].”
A six-minute videoopens in a new tab filmed in Rashid 115 Street in Tehranpars on January 9, 2026 also shows security forces firing from the rooftop of a police station as protesters and bystanders flee.
An eyewitness from the nearby neighbourhood of Narmak said:
“In the Narmak neighborhood, they [security forces] shot and killed at least five or six people in front of us. They have stopped using metal pellets and are shooting with live ammunition.”
Another eyewitness said they saw many people with gunshot wounds brought into Labbafinejad Hospital in north-east Tehran. According to information received by Amnesty International, medical workers reported similar situations in a hospital in Shahr-e Qods, Tehran province, and a hospital near the Sadeghieh (Arya Shahr) neighborhood in Tehran city.
In an account shared with Amnesty International, a protester from the town of Nassimshahr, said:
“They [security forces] relentlessly fired on people as they were fleeing. They killed… people on [January 8]. They also fired at everyone on [January 9] and killed… people. Tell the whole world. At every step, teenage-looking Basij agents were positioned, armed with Kalashnikov rifles.”
Razavi Khorasan province
Verified video evidence from January 8, 2026, corroborated by accounts from eyewitnesses and medical workers, indicates that security forces in Razavi Khorasan province, fired directly and without warning at protesters and bystanders, reflecting a serious escalation in the use of lethal force amid reports of a high death toll in the province.
A medical worker from Mashhad interviewed by Amnesty International told the organization:
“On the night of January 9, the deceased bodies of 150 young protesters were brought into one hospital and then taken to Behesht Reza Cemetery near Mashhad. A young, injured woman died in the hospital and security forces wanted to announce that she was killed by rioters, which the family refused. [The authorities] buried people quickly in the cemetery before they were even identified and then notified their families afterwards.”
In one videoopens in a new tab, filmed in Vakilabad Boulevard in Mashhad on January 10, 2026, security forces firing at protesters from elevated positions, including footbridges. A second videoopens in a new tab filmed in the same area on the same date shows security forces pursuing protesters as sounds consistent with gunfire are heard. A visible flash appears among the agents, accompanied by a loud bang, and the person filming says the authorities are firing at people.
An eyewitness from Vakilabad recalled the security forces’ crackdown as follows:
“They were using tear gas and stun grenades and shot directly [at protesters]. They even fired tear gas inside people’s homes. They shot people with live ammunition in the Vakilabad area and several were injured. The people feel like they have nothing left to lose.”
Another medical worker from Mashhad whose account was shared with Amnesty International said:
“I work in the emergency department… Everyone they brought in had suffered horrific injuries from direct gunfire. Some had their heads and faces full of pellets. It was clear that they [security forces] were shooting with intent to kill. These heartless people have no mercy.”
Alborz province
Video analysis and eyewitness accounts also indicate mass killings of protesters and bystanders across Alborz province since January 8.
In videosopens in a new tab analyzed by Amnesty International gunfire is heard and, in one videoopens in a new tab filmed in Karaj and published on January 10, 2026, dozens of armed security forces are seen patrolling the street.
Twoopens in a new tab videosopens in a new tab published on January 9, 2026 show multiple men and women motionless on the floor of what appears to be a hospital. In oneopens in a new tab, the person filming says: “They [security forces] have killed people with live ammunition.” The text in the video says that the images are from Fardis from January 8, 2026, but Amnesty International could not independently corroborate the exact date and location where the video was filmed.
Eyewitness accounts received from Alborz province confirm a deadly crackdown. One account received from a medical worker in Fardis describes an overwhelming influx of injured people and dead bodies into hospitals in Karaj:
“At Soleimani Hospital, on [January 8] night alone, 87 dead bodies were brought in… At Parsian Hospital, there were 423 injured people. It was crowded and there were many injured people.”
Kermanshah province
Eyewitnesses and verified audiovisual evidence from January 8 and 9, 2026 in Kermanshah province also reveal widespread patterns of security forces unlawfully using force, firearms and other prohibited weapons against protesters, causing killings and injuries, including in the cities of Kermanshah, Eslam Abad-e Gharb and Gilan-e Gharb.
Severalopens in a new tab verified videosopens in a new tab publishedopens in a new tab on January 8, 2026 show security forces in uniforms and plain clothes in Golha Boulevard and surrounding areas in the city of Kermanshah, carrying out violent arrests and maintaining a threatening presence. In one videoopens in a new tab, the sound of a shotgun being fired and reloaded is audible. The footage does not show the person targeted. In the second videoopens in a new tab, agents in uniforms and plain clothes are seen patrolling the streets with shotguns, as well as arresting one person.
Another videoopens in a new tab published on January 8 shows chaotic scenes of protesters in Kermanshah assisting two people injured on the ground, while the person filming shouts: “They have killed two people.”
In two videos from Gilan-e Gharib shared with Amnesty International by a human rights defender, gunshots are audible, including in one showing protesters fleeing as gunshots ring out.
The video evidence is corroborated by eyewitness accounts. Amnesty International received the account of an injured protester from the city of Kermanshah, saying:
“Kermanshah feels like a war zone. It’s a field of bullets. Officers came from the surrounding alleys and started shooting. We all ran, but the sound of gunfire is still coming. I was hit by 20 metal pellets and took refuge in a nearby house… The security forces even fired at the homes of people who sheltered those fleeing gunfire.”
Eyewitness accounts included urgent pleas for help. An eyewitness from the city of Gilan-e Gharb said:
“The situation is extremely dire. Do something; they [security forces] are shooting people with live ammunition… They have unleashed a bloodbath against the people. For the sake of your conscience, do whatever you can. Alert human rights organizations.”
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Amnesty – The Iranian security forces’ attack on a hospital in Ilam province
Amnesty – The Iranian security forces’ attack on a hospital in Ilam province
Amnesty International January 7, 2026
The Iranian security forces’ attack on a hospital in Ilam (western Iran) where injured protesters are seeking medical care or shelter, violates international law and exposes yet again how far the Iranian authorities are willing to go to crush dissent. Security forces in Ilam province have waged a deadly crackdown on protests in recent days, causing killings and injuries. Many of the protesters injured from the deadly crackdown in this province have been taken to Imam Khomeini Hospital for treatment.
Information gathered by Amnesty International shows that, on 4 January, Revolutionary Guards and police special forces surrounded the hospital. Agents used shotguns and fired tear gas into the grounds, smashed glass doors to gain access, and beat those inside, including medical workers. Informed sources told the organization that security forces have entered the hospital on multiple occasions, arresting injured protesters receiving treatment and their family members.
Iran’s security forces must immediately stop the unlawful use of force and firearms against protesters, end arbitrary arrests of those seeking treatment in hospital, ensure those injured receive the medical care they need, and respect the sanctity of medical facilities. The Iranian authorities must release anyone held solely for exercising their human rights. They must uphold the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and the rights to life, health and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment.
https://www.facebook.com/AmnestyOz/photos/the-iranian-security-forces-attack-on-a-hospital-in-ilam-where-injured-protester/1296661505822424/
