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17/11/22: Amnesty’s latest research has revealed that the Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in sham trials designed to intimidate those taking part in protests, and deter others from joining protests. Shockingly, the authorities are also calling for speedy trials and public executions. We can’t let people be sentenced to death for taking part in protests. Please, take action today.

Nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa (Zhina) Amini are being brutally quashed by the Iranian authorities. As the death toll rises, Iranian authorities have shut down the internet to hide their crimes. Call on the international community to take action now. 

On 13 September 2022, Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini was arrested in Tehran by Iran’s so-called “morality” police. Eyewitnesses reported seeing her being violently beaten in a police van. Within hours, she was taken to hospital in a coma, and three days later the 22-year-old died.

The “morality” police routinely subject women and girls to arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment for not complying with Iran’s abusive, degrading and discriminatory compulsory veiling laws.

Mahsa’s death sparked widespread protests across Iran. Iranian forces are responding with deadly violence: firing live ammunition and metal pellets, misusing tear gas and water cannons, and severely beating people with batons. Dozens of people have died, including children.

The UN Human Rights Council must send a strong message that those responsible for crimes under international law will not go unpunished. Impunity in recent years has emboldened the Iranian authorities to kill hundreds of protesters and torture and ill-treat thousands more without fear of consequences. 

Sign the petition and call on Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong to urgently do all she can to ensure an independent UN mechanism now to investigate and ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law in Iran.

 

Sign the Petition

  Our Petition
 
 

Minister for Foreign Affairs
Senator the Hon Penny Wong
PO Box 6100
Senate
Parliament House
Canberra, ACT, 2600

Dear Minister Wong,

Thank you for condemning the violent crackdown happening in Iran right now and supporting calls for an independent, prompt and impartial investigation into the death of Mahsa Amini.

I urge you to also do all you can to support the establishment of an independent UN mechanism now to investigate and ensure accountability for other grave crimes in Iran.

Since Mahsa’s death, Amnesty International have recorded the deaths of dozens of men, women and children. Hundreds of others have sustained painful and serious injuries, including at least two who have been blinded in one or both eyes. Most are not seeking hospital treatment for fear of arrest, increasing the risk of infection and other heath complications.

Security forces have repeatedly used unlawful force. They have fired metal pellets at protesters at close range, misused tear gas and water cannons, and severely beaten people with batons. Iranian authorities are shutting down the Internet to hide their crimes.

Right now, there is a crisis of impunity in Iran, and it has emboldened the Iranian authorities to kill hundreds of protesters and torture and ill-treat thousands more in recent years without fear of consequences. It is time for states engaging at the UN Human Rights Council to help tackle impunity for grave crimes in Iran. I call on you, Minister Wong, to urgently to do all you can to ensure this happens.

Yours sincerely,

[Your name]