Iran · 16 September, 2026 · 2 min read
Amnesty International Says Iranian Authorities Committed Crimes Against Humanity in 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom Crackdown
Amnesty identifies 87 Iranian officials for crimes against humanity over the 2022 crackdown. Crackdown involved killings, torture, rapes, and enforced disappearances against protesters.
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Crackdown Labeled Crimes
Amnesty International said Iranian authorities committed “crimes against humanity” during their suppression of the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising, and it urged international justice to deter further massacres.
“identifies 87 officials who should be investigated for crimes against humanity”
In a statement, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said, “The extensive evidence gathered and analyzed in our report leaves no doubt that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity to crush the 2022 uprising of women, life, freedom.”
Amnesty International’s report identifies 87 officials who it says should be investigated for crimes against humanity, and it describes a leadership chain implementing a state policy of using deadly force to crush protests.
Amnesty International also tied the 2022 crackdown to later violence, saying impunity “culminated in the massacre of thousands of protesters by security forces on January 8-9, 2026.”
Numbers, Names, and Methods
Amnesty International said it identified 377 protesters and bystanders killed during the 2022 protests, including 56 children, and it described the crackdown as involving murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance.
Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International’s Iran researcher in London, told CBC News, “Continued global inaction on international justice sends a very dangerous message to the Iranian authorities.”
Amnesty International France said its investigation concluded that during the crackdown on the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, Iranian authorities committed six categories of crimes against humanity, including murders, torture, imprisonments, rapes, enforced disappearances, and persecutions.
In its report, Amnesty International said it investigated the murder of 377 people carried out during the 2022 uprisings and identified 87 Iranian officials who it said deserve criminal prosecutions for crimes against humanity committed in 2022.
Calls for International Action
Amnesty International urged the UN General Assembly to “create an international criminal justice mechanism aimed at prosecuting those most implicated,” and it also called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Iran to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
“remain in control of Iran’s murderous security apparatus”
Amnesty International said the crackdown in 2022 involved a “widespread and systematic assault on civilians demanding dignity, human rights, and meaningful political change,” and it warned that those responsible “remain in control of Iran’s murderous security apparatus.”
The organization described the 2026 violence as “unprecedented massacres of thousands of protesters and bystanders” and said the January 8–9, 2026 killings repeatedly occurred and peaked in those massacres.
Amnesty International also said it opposes violations of international law by all parties and renewed its call for a permanent ceasefire and independent investigations into attacks conducted during the conflict.