Amnesty International's Iran report: A document of horror

Amnesty International writes that “common” torture methods included beatings with batons and chains, flogging, solitary confinement, electric shocks, chemical administration, deprivation of water and food – these are just a selection of the physical torture methods listed in the detailed report.

The human rights organization has published the results of its investigation into the human rights crimes committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran during the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022 on the fourth anniversary of the death of Jina Mahsa Amini. Amnesty names 87 people who are allegedly responsible for these crimes. It is a document of horror.

Four years after protests in which hundreds of people, including many children, were murdered on the streets of Iran and many thousands imprisoned and tortured, the hope that this report will bring those responsible to justice is dimmer than ever. It was only in January of this year that the Iranian regime once again murdered thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of people who were protesting peacefully. To this day, protesters are executed.

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In addition, the international law under which such crimes should be prosecuted is losing authority every day. While democratic governments hardly hide the fact that international law plays no role for them, it is people who suffer from it, in Gaza, in Sudan, in Iran, around the world. Between the bombs falling from the Americans and the ammunition of their own regime, the suffering of the people in Iran is greater today than it has ever been in the history of the Islamic Republic.

It remains important that human rights crimes are documented. As long as democratic states are not prepared to draw conclusions, it remains up to civil societies in all countries to remember these crimes and demand accountability. It is another area where democracies are failing in the 21st century.