24 January 2026 :
24 January 2026 - IRAN. Hengaw Special Report: protest crackdown amounts to crimes against humanity
At least 3,000 civilians and protesters were killed. Hengaw estimates that approximately 500 members of government security forces were also killed.
Hengaw also estimates that the number of detainees exceeds 20,000.
Based on extensive interviews with the families of those killed, eyewitness testimony, and field investigations, Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has published a detailed report documenting the killing of protesters, mass detentions, and a prolonged internet shutdown during Iran’s December protests. The report concludes that these actions amount to crimes against humanity under international law.
The organization notes that for more than 17 consecutive days, access to the free internet was completely cut across Iran. As a result, people were left in a prolonged state of information blackout and subjected to an intensified security atmosphere, deprived of their right to information, communication, and the ability to mourn their loved ones.
Hengaw emphasizes that the pattern of repression carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran against protesters, when assessed under international law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, constitutes clear instances of “crimes against humanity.”
The organization stresses that independent and international bodies must act urgently to further expose and document all dimensions of the killings of protesters.
According to data collected by the Statistics and Documentation Center of Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, at least 3,000 civilians and protesters were killed during the December protests as a result of the use of lethal force by government forces. The organization further estimates that approximately 500 members of government security forces were also killed.
The organization also estimates that the number of detainees exceeds 20,000, with further details to be presented later in the report. In addition, based on eyewitness testimony, a significant number of civilians were injured after being struck by live ammunition and pellet-gun fire. Many of the wounded reportedly refrained from seeking medical treatment due to fear of arrest.
Following the outbreak of protests in Tehran on December 28, 2025, and their rapid spread to other cities across Iran, government forces responded with violence, including the use of military-grade weapons. What began as peaceful protests was quickly met with lethal force, as authorities escalated the situation and moved to suppress demonstrations through violent crackdowns.
From the earliest days of the protests, Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, drawing on its knowledge of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s established patterns of repression, began systematically documenting violations of the right to protest and the methods used by government forces. After internet access was cut across the country and Iranian authorities and security institutions issued threatening statements on January 7 and 8, the organization warned of the risk of widespread and organized crimes being committed during the blackout.
According to Hengaw’s findings, government forces carried out coordinated and systematic acts of organized violence in all cities where protests took place. These actions included the deliberate killing of protesters, among them women and children. The victims include a pregnant woman and a three-year-old child.
Based on estimates by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, at least 3,000 civilians were killed during protests across multiple cities in Iran. Of this number, the identities of 600 victims have so far been verified by Hengaw’s verification team. The organization also reports that at least 500 members of government forces—including the army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Law Enforcement Forces, the Basij, special units, and plainclothes agents involved in suppressing protests in the streets—were killed during the unrest.
Hengaw states that its casualty figures are based solely on data that it has been able to independently verify and emphasizes that the actual number of victims may be significantly higher, as many cases remain undocumented.
Key verified details of those killed:
At least 44 minors under the age of 18 were killed.
At least 61 women were killed.
At least 27 university students and two teachers were killed.
The killing of 136 Kurdish individuals has been documented.
The killing of 76 Gilak individuals has been documented.
The killing of 56 Lor individuals has been documented.
Provincial breakdown of verified victims
Based on Hengaw’s data, the highest numbers of verified victims were recorded in the following provinces:
Tehran Province: 137
Isfahan Province: 101
Kermanshah (Kermashan) Province: 65
Gilan Province: 62
Alborz Province: 42
Markazi Province: 35
Razavi Khorasan Province: 26
Mazandaran Province: 18
Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province: 17
Fars Province: 14
Hormozgan Province: 13
Golestan Province: 12
Ilam Province: 11
Lorestan Province: 10
Hamadan Province: 7
Khuzestan Province: 6
Bushehr Province: 5
North Khorasan Province: 3
Yazd Province: 3
Kerman Province: 3
Qazvin Province: 3
Kurdistan Province (Sanandaj): 2
Semnan Province: 1
Sistan and Baluchestan Province: 1
Qom Province: 1
Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province: 1
Eyewitnesses told Hengaw that many of those who opened fire on protesters had been positioned on rooftops overlooking protest gatherings and fired sustained bursts into the crowds with the clear and deliberate intent to kill.
Among the cases verified by Hengaw, bullets most commonly struck victims in the head, side, lower back, shoulder, and heart, and in some cases the throat.
According to Hengaw’s data, most of the individuals whose identities have been verified were killed on Thursday, January 8, and Friday, January 9.
A large number of the identified victims died at the scene immediately after being shot. Those who were transported to hospital later died due to the severity of their injuries and heavy blood loss.
Reports from Tehran and Gilan indicate that security institutions prevented the transfer of the wounded to medical facilities. As a result, individuals who may have had a chance of survival died from blood loss after being denied access to hospital care.
Hengaw has learned that many families—particularly in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Eslamabad-e Gharb, Mashhad, and Rasht—were only able to identify the bodies of their loved ones after days of searching among large numbers of corpses in morgue cold-storage facilities. In order to retrieve the bodies, most families were forced to either pay sums ranging from 700 million tomans to 3 billion tomans, sign coerced confessions stating that their child had been a member of the Basij, or falsely declare that the individual had been killed by protesters.
In addition to the extremely complex and distressing process of identifying the bodies and the unlawful and inhumane manner in which they were handed over, government forces exerted pressure on families to hold funerals in silence and refrain from public mourning. While some families were compelled to accept these conditions, others proceeded with burial and mourning ceremonies during which slogans were chanted against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In addition to the high number of people killed and ongoing efforts to verify their identities, eyewitnesses told Hengaw that a large number of protesters sustained severe injuries after being struck by live ammunition, pellet gun fire, and baton blows. Some of the wounded were unable to seek medical treatment due to fear of arrest. Nevertheless, several doctors and medical staff in different cities told Hengaw that hospitals and medical centers were overwhelmed with patients in critical condition. The scale of injuries was such that even the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization issued a public appeal, broadcast on state television, calling on people to donate blood.
Separately, based on field reports and monitoring of the situation of detainees, Hengaw has documented that authorities carried out coercive arrests of protesters, as well as civil society activists, women’s rights activists, and lawyers, in what officials described as “preventive” detentions. These arrests were conducted across multiple cities, including locations where no protests had taken place.
The continuation of arrests has coincided with escalating threats from senior officials within Iran’s judiciary. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei publicly labeled protesters as “rioters” and explicitly stated that they must be “put in their place.” Judicial officials have repeatedly invoked severe charges, including “moharebeh” (waging war against God), when referring to detainees. More recently, the Tehran prosecutor, Ali Salehi, announced that the cases of several detainees had been referred to court on charges of moharebeh, that formal charges had been issued, and that the accused had been transferred to prison under detention orders. He added that cases involving allegations of moharebeh were being handled on an expedited basis.
Some reports received by Hengaw also indicate that the Islamic Republic may be seeking to initiate so-called summary executions, including the reported communication of death sentences by telephone. On Friday, January 9, Hengaw issued a public statement warning of an impending heavy and bloody crackdown, citing explicit threats made by government officials and institutions. Earlier, the head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, had also warned that there would be no leniency.
Amid these threats, deeply alarming reports have emerged from the families of detainees, who say that security forces and courts have informed them that their children have been charged with moharebeh and sentenced to death.
In this context, Hengaw, drawing on the Islamic Republic’s long-standing record of widespread and punitive use of the death penalty to instill fear and suppress society, expresses grave concern over the fate of detainees, the lack of fair judicial proceedings, and the risk facing those arrested. Hengaw emphasizes that detained protesters are at serious risk of swift executions, including the possibility of summary trials and extrajudicial executions.
In this context, based on documents and records registered with the Documentation Center of Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, more than 20,000 people have been arrested across Iran since the outbreak of protests, by forces affiliated with the Ministry of Intelligence, the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the Law Enforcement Forces.
To date, Hengaw has verified the identities of 830 detainees, including 100 women and 60 minors under the age of 18. At least 350 of those whose identities have been verified are Kurdish. Hengaw also confirms that a number of individuals were arrested by government forces while they were injured.
Within this framework, documented information indicates that authorities also targeted medical facilities. The siege of and attacks on hospitals, including in Ilam and Tehran, constitute a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the deliberate denial of injured individuals’ access to medical treatment—an act that itself forms part of crimes against humanity.
At the same time, following the mass killing of protesters on January 8 and 9, and as part of a broader strategy of digital repression, the Islamic Republic deliberately and systematically blocked access to information and free communication by imposing a complete internet shutdown and severely restricting telephone communications on the evening of Thursday, January 8.
This measure, which had been applied in a less extensive form during the November 2019 protests, reflects a systematic effort by the authorities to conceal the true scale of the crimes committed and to prevent international scrutiny and accountability. Internet access in Iran remained completely cut for 15 days, until the end of Friday, January 24, and has since only partially and minimally been restored.
Following the shutdown of internet and telephone communications, between January 13 and 14, government forces launched raids on private homes in cities including Tehran, Baneh, Marivan, Salmas, Karaj, and Piranshahr, conducting search operations aimed at locating satellite receivers and Starlink equipment.
In the city of Baneh, more than 50 individuals traveling through the Baneh border crossing were arrested on accusations of transferring information from inside Iran to abroad and were subjected to interrogation.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has also obtained deeply disturbing reports from Gilan Province, particularly the city of Rasht. Witnesses describe extremely severe violence in Rasht, Lahijan, and Anzali, as well as heavily militarized conditions imposed on these cities. Hengaw is currently reviewing and verifying reports related to the severe repression in Gilan Province and the city of Rasht.
According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the full scale of street-level repression continued until Sunday, January 10, 2026. From Monday onward, fewer protests were observed at the city level. Multiple sources told Hengaw that public anger and shock over the crackdown remain extremely high, while government forces have placed many cities—particularly at night—under conditions resembling martial law.
Reports received by Hengaw indicate that the Islamic Republic of Iran has deployed large numbers of military forces in most cities where protests took place. These deployments include nighttime patrols using military vehicles mounted with DShK heavy machine guns, motorcycle units carrying armed personnel, and checkpoints where mobile phones and their contents are inspected. Through these measures, the authorities have significantly intensified repression and militarization directed at the civilian population.
Despite the severe challenges of verification during the protests of late December 2025, particularly following the internet shutdown, Hengaw Organization for Human Rights mobilized all available resources to document violations. Even in the absence of full access to information and the inability to verify every identity and dimension of the crimes, Hengaw pursued maximum possible verification of victims’ identities, detainees, methods of repression, and changes in repression tactics following the internet blackout. These patterns of violence have been documented through verified reports and shared with international bodies.
Hengaw warns that framing the protests in Iran as a “war,” rather than recognizing them as the result of criminal repression carried out by the Iranian state, is dangerous for Iranian society. Such framing risks legitimizing the use of military force against civilians and obscuring the responsibility of state authorities for serious human rights violations and crimes under international law. Hengaw therefore urges Iranian civil society and the international community to refrain from adopting or amplifying rhetoric that portrays the protests as a “war.”
In a series of simultaneous statements and official positions issued on January 9, 2026, the Law Enforcement Forces (FARAJA), the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and the Ministry of Intelligence employed security–judicial language to directly threaten protesters, their families, political activists, and Kurdish political parties. By explicitly invoking terms such as “terrorist groups,” “armed individuals,” and the charge of “moharebeh” (waging war against God), FARAJA and the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office laid the legal and propaganda groundwork for violent repression against political parties and organizations.
The targeted use of terms such as “fabricated killings,” along with accusations including “moharebeh,” “corruption on earth,” “terrorism,” and “separatism,” reflects a deliberate effort by the authorities to justify a potential new wave of killings, shift responsibility for violence onto protesters, and legitimize forthcoming organized repression.
Hengaw warns that any discourse in the public or international sphere that reinforces a “war” narrative, instead of recognizing the criminal repression of protests across Iran, strengthens the Islamic Republic’s justification for the use of military force, weapons, and wartime tactics against unarmed civilians and peaceful protest movements.
Hengaw further warns the international community that the intensity of repression during this phase of protests is comparable only to the crackdowns of the 1980s. Crimes against humanity, mass killings, the deliberate killing of children and adolescents, and the use of live ammunition and military weaponry against protesters are fully verifiable. The international community bears responsibility, under the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), to support the people of Iran against the Islamic Republic’s unchecked and lethal militarization.
https://hengaw.net/en/reports-and-statistics-1/2026/01/article-6
