Amnesty Report on Iran Protests

And now a new report from Amnesty International says Iran committed crimes

against humanity during that brutal crackdown on the protests.

So let's take you to Amnesty's headquarters and, uh, join BBC Persian

correspondent Jia Gol, who joins us from there. Jia,

good to see you.

Tell us more about this report.

Lucy, around 10:00 here, Amnesty International released its

finding four years

after the death of Mahsa Jina Amini.

It's more than thousand pages and details the...

those people who have been killed, they have identified

377 protesters who have been killed by the

Iranian regime security forces. And in this report, they

have named 87 officials, security,

Revolutionary Guards commanders, militia loyal to supreme leader

commanders, and also some of the political leaders.

And Amnesty International, in an unprecedented, we could say that,

that report asking international community, UN General

Assembly, UN Security Council, and also prosecution in

nation states to take on the case and bring those people

who Amnesty accuse them of committing crime against

humanity to justice. Beside me, Lucy, is, uh,

Amnesty International General Secretary,

uh,

uh, Ms., Ms., uh, Callamard. You today in detail

talked about the report.

Yeah.

What can you tell us more, and how did you identify those

who were victims and also those w- who were

responsible for the killing?

The Iranian government authorities have committed more than eight

crimes against humanity to crush, uh, the dissent, uh,

to crush the protest, uh, of 2022. Crimes

against humanity of murder, of, uh, torture, of rape,

of sexual violence, of persecution on the basis of, uh,

gender or, um, ethnic or national identity.

Uh, but it is not just about individuals.

The reports detail the system. It details a

systemic widespread, uh, approach that

led to, uh, this repression. This was state

policy. It characterized the security forces,

the political actors, the religious actors, and the judicial

system. That led us to conclude that justice cannot be

delivered within, um, within Iran because the

justice system is part of, uh, the

systemic, uh, crimes against humanity being committed.

This is why we are calling on the international community to,

to stand up. Yes, we have identified 87

individuals. Let me be very clear.

That list is not exhaustive. We have identified

them on the basis of what they said, what they've done, where they

stand in the, in the chain of command.

Uh, what we wanted to do with this report

is really move

us resolutely into the criminal field.

These individuals are most probably

responsible for crimes against humanity, and they must be held to

account. Instead, what is happening is that they've rose in the

chain of command or in the line of responsibilities

within Iran. This is why the international community

must rise to that challenge, and we're making a number of

recommendation to that extent.

Thank you very much, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty

International.

Lucy, also we have Mahsa Pirayi, who lost her mother

in the protest in t- 2022. Her mother was killed

in the city of Kermanshah. She was one of the first

women was killed. Mahsa, today you were part of the

panel. You talked about your mother.

You talked about the pressure the Iranian security forces put on your

family to say she was a bystander. She wasn't a

protesters. After four years on the anniversary of

the nationwide protest, are you hopeful something

ha- changed in Iran or something might change in the country?

Uh,

yes. Thanks to Amnesty documented,

uh, as many as, uh, the cases of the families

and injured people of Iran.

Uh, yeah, there's still a hope for me, especially

today, uh, when... uh, with this report,

so I think, uh, we step forward

and, uh...

But I think it's not enough for us, uh, because, uh,

uh, the international, uh, community needs

to be, uh, uh, to stand by the people of Iran as well

because, uh, as we can see after Woman Life Freedom,

uh, Movement, many more people killed in-

Mm

... last January, January 2026. Uh, the regime

slaughter people. They shut off the internet to hide the

truth

and, uh, uh, we need, uh, to document all

of these crimes as well, and it's not just about the documentation.

We need action. Uh,

I ask the Western governments, all the governments

all over the world to stand by p- people of Iran because by ignoring

this slaughter, by ignoring the people of Iran,

they ignore

humanity.

Thank you very much. I know, and I have seen you in the past four

years, you have

been relentlessly campaigning for justice for your mother and also to

stop the killing of the protesters.

Mahsa Pirayi, who lost her mother. Lucy.

Jia, with these allegations, have we had

any response from the Iranian regime,

or in the past, what have they said about allegations like

this?

I think Iranian regime, Amnesty International, Agnès was here,

and she said they have sent a letter to Iranian supreme

leader, Mustafa Khamenei, and also the Iranian

officials and informed them, them of this report,

as I said, more than thousand pages, and

informed them about 87 individual in the command and

leadership of the country and security forces

and Revolutionary Guard.

Then they have been accused of crimes against humanity.

They have not heard from them until now.

But we know in the past, Lucy, Iranian, uh, even we when we

make a documentary normally ask for respond.

Normally they do not respond to this allegation.

And most of the time they say most of those people who have been killed, they

killed by non-state actor or some people within the crowd trying to

antagonize people, and they have killed protesters.

But the reality is most of the time we cannot hear a

clear answer from them. And I wanna highlight one more thing,

Lucy.

Amnesty International also called US-Israel war against

Iran unlawful. And Iranian justice system have been

using this pretext, war conditions, to prosecute

and execute protesters, have been arrested since

2022 and also early this year in January this year

in mass, uh, wide nation- nationwide protest.

Many people have been arrested, and also many people have been

executed to prevent other young people to come back to

street and voice their dissent.

Jia, thank you. Good to see you. Thank you, Agnès.