The bloody crackdown on the January protests in Iran remains unaddressed, and Amnesty International has warned that the continued impunity enjoyed by those responsible is paving the way for further crimes and even broader repression in Iran.
Six months after the bloody suppression of the nationwide January 2026 protests in Iran, Amnesty International said in a statement that, given the complete lack of prospects for justice inside Iran, pursuing accountability for the victims through international criminal justice mechanisms must be treated as an urgent and non-negotiable priority.
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in the statement released on Wednesday, July 8, that six months after thousands of women, men, and children were killed by Iranian security forces in just two days, the international community’s failure to take meaningful steps toward justice is indefensible.
Iran’s ‘No To Executions Tuesdays’ campaign Enters Its 128th Week
She warned that continued inaction would perpetuate the cycle of deadly repression, in which victims’ families are denied justice while perpetrators, protected by impunity, become emboldened to commit further crimes.
Warning Against Ignoring Human Rights
Amnesty International also urged governments not to use diplomatic negotiations and engagement between the United States and Iran as a pretext for ignoring Iran’s human rights crisis.
According to the organization, officials of the Iranian regime have paid no price for their widespread and unlawful use of lethal force against protesters, and this impunity has increased the risk of further bloody crackdowns.
Amnesty International reiterated that because perpetrators of human rights violations in Iran enjoy structural impunity, the only path to justice is through international mechanisms. The organization called on United Nations member states to prioritize Iran’s human rights crisis, support the establishment of an independent international mechanism to investigate these crimes, and urge the UN Security Council to refer Iran’s case to the International Criminal Court.
The organization also recalled that Amnesty International’s Secretary General warned last month that any agreement resulting only in a temporary halt to hostilities while ignoring human rights could become a cover for continued impunity and repression.
According to Amnesty International’s statement, the so-called Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between Iran’s regime and the United States can only lay the foundation for lasting peace if it places the protection of human rights, accountability for violations of international law, reparations for victims, and guarantees of non-repetition at its core.
The nationwide protests began on December 28, 2025, following the collapse of the rial’s value, rising inflation, a worsening cost-of-living crisis, and widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s performance. They quickly spread to cities across the country. In addition to economic demands, protesters called for freedom, human dignity, democracy, and an end to the rule of the Iranian regime.
According to Amnesty International, Iran’s regime used lethal force on an unprecedented scale to suppress the protests while simultaneously imposing widespread internet shutdowns, creating an environment of complete impunity for those responsible.
Iran’s regime Supreme National Security Council has put the death toll from the protests at 3,117. However, Mai Sato, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, previously stated that the number of those killed had exceeded 5,000.
Amnesty International also said that after the protests ended, the Iranian regime sought to silence all dissent through mass arrests, enforced disappearances, bans on public gatherings, pressure on victims’ families, and death sentences against protesters and political opponents.
The organization added that following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026, the crackdown on dissidents intensified under the pretext of “wartime conditions.” At least 44 people have been executed in politically motivated cases, while many others remain at risk of execution.
Mai Sato, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, also warned on July 1 that the human rights situation in Iran had already been critical even before the war, and that any final agreement failing to address this issue would risk a return to previous conditions—or an even worse deterioration.
