Following the bloody crackdown on the January protests, detainees are now facing severe security-related charges and the danger of being sentenced to death. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based human rights organization, emphasized in an interview with Deutsche Welle, the German international broadcaster, the necessity of raising awareness.
The publication of alarming reports about the attribution of security charges to detained protesters and the holding of rushed trials—without due process and without access to independent legal counsel—has raised serious concerns about the fate of those detained.
Fortieth-Day Memorials in Iran Turned into Nationwide Protests
Amnesty International announced in a statement on Friday, February 20, 2026, that at least 30 people in Iran are facing the death penalty in connection with the January 2026 protests. According to the human rights organization, eight of these individuals have been sentenced to death within just a few weeks of their arrest.
Since the nationwide protests of 2022, Iran’s regime has sought to instill an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in society against any political dissent by bringing heavy security charges and swiftly carrying out certain sentences.
The importance of raising awareness to save the lives of detainees.
The number of detainees is very high, and many of them are being held in unofficial detention centers, placing their lives at risk.
At a time when Iran’s regime, fearing the further spread of protests, has carried out a violent and unprecedented crackdown followed by the arrest of thousands, raising awareness can help break the atmosphere of silence and lack of information favored by the authorities.
Otherwise, ambiguity and lack of information will become tools in the hands of Iran’s regime to further violate the rights of detainees and intensify the repression of opponents, without incurring any immediate cost in public opinion.
Silence and the disruption of information flow increase the likelihood of arbitrary treatment so that, in the view of judicial authorities of the Iranian regime, detainees can be turned into a “lesson” for society.
For this reason, many human rights activists believe that continuous reporting and naming detainees and those killed is a way to neutralize this tool; an action that can keep the issue of Iran at the center of public attention and pave the way for holding accountable those who ordered and carried out the bloody repression of the people.
