Amnesty launches Persian-language site to expose 'all-out assault on rights' in Iran

Amnesty International launched its first-ever Persian-language website on Friday aimed at increasing information on abuse in Iran amid "an all-out assault on human rights" by the authorities and an "escalating crisis of impunity".

The website's launch, which coincided with International Human Rights Day, aimed at increasing access to information on rights violations in the Islamic Republic, the rights watchdog said in a statement on its website.

"The website arrives as Iran suffers from a deepening human rights crisis, with hundreds of individuals on death row following unfair trials – including those arrested as children – and thousands persecuted or arbitrarily detained for peacefully exercising their human rights. Meanwhile, the families of thousands of people killed or forcibly disappeared by the authorities are left waiting for truth and justice," Amnesty's Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Diana Eltahawy, said.

The London-based NGO said its reports and statements on human rights issues relating to Iran and other parts of the world will be available on the new Persian-language website. This includes the group’s work relating to torture in Iranian prisons, Tehran’s crackdown on protests in November 2019 and in 2021, the 1988 prison massacres and statements on dissidents imprisoned or persecuted by the country’s government.

"Amnesty International’s Persian-language website represents a major effort to increase access to information on human rights and further engage Persian-speaking audiences in Iran and around the world with the organization’s research, legal analysis and campaigning work," Eltahawy said.

Concerns over Iran’s human rights record have been further raised amid talks between the Islamic Republic and world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.The accord, which the United States unilaterally withdrew from under the Trump administration, provided Tehran with sanctions relief in exchange for controls and inspection of their nuclear programme.

Activists have been frustrated by a lack of discussion of the country’s rights record in negotiations.

Iran has been the subject of international criticism over its use of the death penalty, corporal punishment, crackdown on dissent and treatment of minority ethnic and religious groups, among other alleged violations. 

Amnesty says its new Persian-language site contains "recommendations to the international community to tackle this crisis of impunity through the establishment of an independent mechanism to collect, preserve and analyze evidence of the most serious crimes under international law committed in Iran to facilitate future criminal proceedings".