Four years after the death of Mahsa Amini in Iranian police custody sparked nationwide protests, Amnesty International has published what it describes as the most comprehensive investigation in its history, formally classifying the Iranian state's suppression of the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement as crimes against humanity and naming 87 individuals it holds responsible.
The report, titled "Architects of Atrocity" and running to more than 1,000 pages, documents the deaths of at least 377 people killed by Iranian security forces, including 56 children and minors, as well as thousands of cases of torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and unfair trials. Amnesty notes that ethnic minorities — particularly Baluchi and Kurdish communities — were disproportionately affected, accounting for an estimated 62 percent of documented victims despite representing no more than 15 percent of Iran's population. The findings draw on testimony from 270 witnesses, including victims' relatives, human rights defenders, journalists and medical personnel, as well as more than 2,000 video recordings, leaked government documents and forensic evidence.
The 87 individuals named span senior officials to local commanders. They include members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran's national police force (Faraja), whom Amnesty accuses of deliberately firing into crowds. Six of those named have since been killed in targeted strikes attributed to the United States and Israel, among them former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former IRGC commander Hussein Salami. Many others are already subject to international sanctions. Amnesty notes, troublingly, that in numerous cases individuals implicated in violence were subsequently promoted within the regime.
Amini, 22, was a Kurdish-Iranian woman detained by Tehran's morality police on 13 September 2022 for allegedly violating compulsory hijab rules. She died three days later. A UN fact-finding mission concluded she had been subjected to physical violence in custody — findings Iranian authorities rejected. The protests that followed drew together demands for women's rights, political freedoms, minority rights and economic justice across 26 provinces. The UN mission documented up to 551 deaths and said certain violations, including killings, torture and sexual violence, crossed the threshold of crimes against humanity.
Amnesty stresses that 2022 was not a closed chapter. Those who directed the crackdown remain in control of Iran's security apparatus, and the same methods have been applied to subsequent unrest, including protests in January 2026. Enforcement of hijab rules has shifted from morality-police patrols toward surveillance cameras, facial recognition technology and drones. Despite the compulsory hijab law being formally suspended since December 2024, businesses have continued to face closures for violations. Kurdistani cities including Saqqez — Amini's hometown — staged a general strike on Wednesday in her memory, with video showing empty bazaars. Amnesty is calling on international legal authorities to open investigations, drawing comparisons to accountability processes pursued in relation to Syria and Ukraine. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Mai Sato, said the resistance Amini's death inspired "has not been extinguished."