People’s tribunal on Iran protest crackdown must be ‘wake-up call’: Amnesty

Khazan Jangiz

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - On the second day of a people’s tribunal hearing held in London about crimes committed during and after 2019 protests in Iran, Amnesty International on Thursday urged UN member states to hold independent investigations and demand accountability.

“Despite repeated calls by Amnesty International and others, UN member states have yet to mandate an independent international inquiry into crimes under international law and serious human rights violations committed by the Iranian authorities during and in the aftermath of the November 2019 protests, including unlawful killings of protesters and bystanders, mass arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances and torture,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), in a statement. 

“There must be an end to this systematic impunity afforded to perpetrators of this state-sanctioned crackdown. The hearings at the International People’s Tribunal on Iran’s Atrocities of November 2019 are crucial for ensuring that these atrocities do not fade into memory,” added Morayef. “Crucially, the tribunal must spur UN member states into action, both at the current session of the UN General Assembly and the next session of the UN Human Rights Council, to pave the way for the accountability that is so desperately needed,” said the MENA director. 


Protests broke out in November 2019 over the government's decision to triple the price of fuel in a country already struggling under an economic crisis and US sanctions, resulting in hundreds of deaths.

While no Iranian official has been held accountable domestically, a number of human rights organisations established the tribunal in London to investigate the atrocities. 

London-based rights group Justice for Iran established the Aban Tribunal in partnership with Iran Human Rights and the world coalition Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM), or Together Against the Death Penalty. After hearing evidence and deliberation, the panel will determine whether crimes under international law have been committed by Iranian state forces and paramilitaries during the protests. 

The EU in April sanctioned eight Iranian militia commanders and police chiefs, including the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, over the government's brutal crackdown. This led Iran to suspend human rights talks and cooperation with the EU. 


Human rights organisations, both inside and outside Iran as well, have documented the crackdown and crimes committed against protesters, some of whom were shot in the streets by snipers. Iranian authorities’ lethal crackdown was followed by an internet shutdown to cover the killings, Amnesty said at the time.

“The Iranian authorities continue to cover up the death toll of people killed during the November 2019 protests. They announced the deaths of 230 people in June 2020, but blamed unknown attackers for most killings and praised security and intelligence forces for their role in suppressing the protests,” they noted on Thursday.