Iran: Deadly crackdown on protests against Mahsa Amini’s death in custody needs urgent global action

World leaders at the UN General Assembly must support calls for the establishment of an independent international investigative and accountability mechanism to address the prevailing crisis of impunity in Iran. Their urgent need for action was demonstrated most recently by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, and the barrage of gunfire unleashed on …

Iran: Halt imminent execution of young man arrested at 17

The Iranian authorities must immediately halt the planned execution of a young man who was sentenced to death for a crime that took place when he was a child, following a grossly unfair trial marred by torture-tainted “confessions”, Amnesty International said today. Arman Abdolali was moved to solitary confinement in Raja’i Shahr prison in Karaj in preparation …

5 human rights cases you can take action for this July

Rights belong to every one of us – but they are abused and denied every single day. From across the globe into our own backyard, our human rights are under threat. This can feel really overwhelming, and at times, hopeless. But when this happens, we search out the facts. We expose what’s happening on the …

Iran: Why was Alireza Fazeli Monfared murdered?

Content warning: details of the murder of a non-binary gay man. Earlier this month Alireza Fazeli Monfared, who self-identified as a non-binary gay man, was brutally murdered in his hometown in Iran. His killers are yet to face justice – and under Iran’s justice system, are unlikely to. Alireza was murdered on 4 May in …

Destruction of mass grave site in Iran a continuation of human rights abuses against the Baha’i

The actions of the Iranian government to destroy and desecrate a mass grave site and prevent the dignified burial of members of the Baha’i community must be condemned on the international stage as serious violations of human rights. The Khavaran mass grave site is believed to contain the remains of up to several hundred victims …

Iran: Detainees flogged, sexually abused and given electric shocks in gruesome post-protest crackdown – new report

Iran’s police, intelligence and security forces, and prison officials have committed, with the complicity of judges and prosecutors,  a catalogue of shocking human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, against those detained in connection with the nationwide protests of November 2019, said Amnesty International in a damning new report published …

Iran: Details released of 304 deaths during protests six months after security forces’ killing spree

Amnesty International has released details of the deaths of 304 men, women and children killed by Iran’s security forces during last November’s ruthless crackdown, six months after the protests. The organization found that more than 220 of the recorded deaths took place over just two days on 16 and 17 November. New and extensive research …

Death penalty 2019: Saudi Arabia executed record number of people last year amid decline in global executions

Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people in 2019, despite an overall decline in executions worldwide, Amnesty International said in its 2019 global review of the death penalty published today. The Saudi authorities put 184 people to death last year, the highest number Amnesty has ever recorded in a single year in the country. …