Amnesty report on Iran: 87 architects of murder, violence and torture

In a report published on Wednesday, the human rights organization Amnesty International named 87 people as the main suspects in the crackdown on the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022. The list ranges from high-ranking officials to local leaders. And it is by no means complete, the human rights organization immediately added.

The over 1,000-page report “Architects of Atrocities” classifies the violent suppression of the protests four years ago as a crime against humanity. At least 377 people killed by Iranian security forces, including 56 children and minors, are discussed in the report. In addition, thousands of cases of torture and sexual violence, arrests and persecutions as well as enforced disappearances.

The Secretary General of Amnesty International Germany, Julia Duchrow, spoke of a “state-ordered and orchestrated strategy” to suppress and silence the civilian population through massive repression and lethal violence. Amnesty is now calling for authorities in the international community to begin investigating human rights violations in Syria and Ukraine.

Amnesty said 2022 will not mark the end of the violence. The schematic oppression continues to the present day - an example is the brutal suppression of the demonstrations on January 8th and 9th, 2026.

The report that has now been published is the most comprehensive research in the history of Amnesty International, according to the organization. 270 eyewitnesses, including relatives of the victims, human rights activists, journalists and medical staff were heard. They also evaluated over 2,000 video recordings as well as leaked government documents, official statements, court rulings and forensic documents.

Amnesty disproportionately counts people from the Baloch and Kurdish minorities among the victims. While they should represent a maximum of between 5 and 15 percent of the Iranian population, they account for 62 percent of all victims documented by the organization.

The accused include forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Police Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Faraja), who, among other things, deliberately and repeatedly aimed firearms into the crowds.

Of the 87 named people on Amnesty's list, six were killed in targeted attacks by the US and Israel. These include former Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, former Iranian military chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri and former IRGC commander general Hussein Salami.

Among the remaining 81 people, many are already subject to international sanctions, such as Ahmad Wahidi, commander of the IRGC since March 2026, or Seyyed Majid Mirahmadi, who was the Iranian deputy interior minister for state security and police until 2024.

The former Iranian police chief Hossein Ashtari and the ex-head of the police special forces Hassan Karami are also named, as are the two IRGC commanders for the Kurdish-populated parts of Iran, Mohammad Taqi Osanloo and Majid Arjmandfar, and the IRGC commander Mohammad Nazar Azimi for the provinces of Kermansha, Hamadan and Ilam.

In many cases, their use of violence even led to the promotion of members of the regime, Amnesty International said. The human rights organization also states that the Iranian regime is using the attacks led by the USA and Israel, which began at the end of February 2026, as a cover to take even harsher action against its own population.