EnglishA WEB OF IMPUNITY
The killings Iran’s internet shutdown hid
A joint investigation by Amnesty International and The Hertie School in partnership with the Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) project.
A joint investigation by Amnesty International and The Hertie School in partnership with the Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) project.
In November 2019, security forces in Iran killed at least 323 men, women and children during five days of protests which swept across the country.
Security forces used lethal force unlawfully against the vast majority of protesters and bystanders killed, shooting most to the head or torso, indicating intent to kill. To this day, no official has been held accountable for the unlawful killings.
The deadly crackdown was accompanied by the authorities shutting down access to the internet for most of the population.
An internet shutdown is not a new tactic to limit access to information. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has declared that “states … must not block or hinder internet connectivity in relation to peaceful assemblies.” However, states are increasingly doing just this; in the past two years, states such as Myanmar, Sudan, Venezuela, Belarus, and Ethiopia have limited or barred access to the internet. In Iran, as elsewhere, not only did the shutdown restrict access to information for people inside the country, it also stopped them from being able to share information with the rest of the world, thus obstructing research into the human rights violations and crimes committed, the identities of the perpetrators and the victims, and the real number of deaths.
Amnesty International has painstakingly uncovered the details of 323 people who were killed in Iran in November 2019. We share some of their stories below. We believe the real number of deaths is higher but the web of impunity spun by the Iranian authorities means we may never learn the names and stories of all those whose lives were brutally cut short.
Men, women and children documented by Amnesty International as killed by Iran’s security forces over four days in November 2019. Source: Amnesty International
On the anniversary of the shutdown and the deadly crackdown, we have created this website to explain what an internet shutdown is, to show why it is a serious violation of human rights, to remember those killed in the protests, and to ask for your help in seeking justice and accountability.
On 15 November 2019, protests erupted across Iran following the government’s overnight announcement of a significant increase in the price of fuel. Demonstrators voiced anger that the measure would crush poor people already struggling amid an economic crisis engulfing the country. Many also chanted slogans calling for a radical overhaul of the political system, including constitutional reforms and an end to the Islamic Republic system, and burned posters of Iran’s current and former Supreme Leaders.
Scores of videos of the protests and state violence against the protesters appeared online, which Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps subsequently authenticated and analyzed.
Speaking on state television on 16 November, Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said that Iranian security forces would “fulfil their duty to restore calm if attacks on public and individuals’ properties continue.” Amnesty International’s research shows that 16 November was the bloodiest known day of the protests, with at least 100 unarmed protesters and bystanders, including children, killed.
Under international human rights law, security forces may only resort to the use of lethal force when strictly unavoidable to protect against imminent threat of death or serious injury. Killings resulting from the authorities’ use of deadly force against protesters, in violation of international law and standards, constitute an arbitrary deprivation of life in violation of the right to life and can also amount to extrajudicial executions, which are crimes under international law.
As protests intensified in most cities across the country, the Iranian authorities ordered different internet service providers (ISPs) to shut down the internet, achieving a near-total countrywide blackout. The Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) project based at the University of California, San Diego, observed steady drops in signals which started in the afternoon. Cellular operators in Iran began to disconnect first at around 2 pm local time, followed by other operators. By 7 pm on 16 November, Iran had descended into darkness.
Iran’s domestic internet remained online. According to the freedom of expression NGO Article 19, this enabled activities such as banking and government services to continue, which minimized financial losses and kept the government functional.
The Iranian authorities will no longer show “tolerance” and “self-control” toward the protesters, said the county’s interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli on 16 November. A day later, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei labelled protesters “evil-doers, hatemongers and unscrupulous people” and ordered the Iranian security services to “implement their duties” to end the protests.
Internet shutdown in Iran as observed by IODA. Source: IODA
Five days later, at 10 am local time on 21 November, IODA documented a spike in their measurements showing signs of recovery. The internet was being gradually restored. According to Article 19, many of the cellular data providers did not come back online until 27 November.
An unknown amount of evidence of crimes and serious human rights violations was lost as a result of the shutdown. Witnesses told Amnesty International that they had deleted evidence of crimes from their mobile phones, fearing that Iranian security forces would arrest, detain and prosecute them if they found such content.
An internet shutdown happens when an institution—usually a government—intentionally disrupts the internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a specific region.
An internet shutdown can be implemented across an entire state or territory, or it can be implemented in specific sub-regions. Authorities may impose the shutdown in a variety of ways. They may slow down the internet to render access ineffective, such as what Indian authorities have done in Jammu and Kashmir since March 2020. Alternatively, they may order cellular and other ISPs to shut down services, as was the case in Sudan in 2019. In Iran, the shutdown was implemented nationwide by the government ordering different providers to shut down access to the world wide web, even as the domestic internet remained online.
On 19 November 2019, Amnesty International released evidence that the Iranian security forces were using lethal force against protesters and that at least 106 people had been killed. The Iranian authorities immediately rebuffed this, calling Amnesty International’s claims “baseless and fabricated”. Iran’s Mission to the United Nations said Amnesty International was leading a “disinformation campaign against Iran from outside the country”.
After thousands of hours of relentless fact-finding, Amnesty International has since recorded and verified the deaths of 323 people killed by the Iranian security services between 15 and 19 November 2019. Our investigation, published in May 2020, found that more than 237 of these deaths took place within 48 hours of the internet shutting down on 16 November.
In the absence of online documentation during the shutdown, Amnesty International received information from human rights activists and journalists. To verify and add to these reports we interviewed family members and friends, medical workers and eyewitnesses, among others. Our researchers also cross-checked funeral posters, gravesites, death certificates and local media reports.
The result is a detailed record of the killings the internet shutdown tried to hide from the world and the Iranian authorities continue to deny.
Of the 323 men, women, and children whose deaths Amnesty International has been able to verify, 257 were identified by first and last name. For six other victims, we were able to obtain either the first or last name. For most victims, we know their age and gender, in addition to where and when they were fatally injured. For almost half, we know the bodily injuries they sustained, based on photographs, burial and death certificates.
Fact-finding was significantly impeded by the absence of information sharing during the days of the internet shutdown. While Amnesty International was able to verify 323 victims, we believe the real number of deaths to be higher.
At least 22 of those killed were children below the age of 18.
One of the youngest victims, Mohammad Dastankhah was shot on his way home from school by security forces stationed on the roof; a base belonging to the Basij paramilitary force in Sadra, Fars. Mohammad’s death certificate states that he died of gunshot wounds that caused extensive internal bleeding and pierced his heart and lung. He was 15 years old.
Eyewitness accounts and video footage verified by our Digital Verification Corps confirm that, on 16 November, security forces shot at unarmed protesters and bystanders with live ammunition from this location.
In total, Amnesty International documented the deaths of 21 boys aged between 12 and 17, and one was a girl reportedly aged between eight and 12. The number of children killed is very likely to be higher.
Of the 323 victims for which Amnesty International has obtained information, 241 were identified as men and 10 as women. In 30 cases, the sex and age of those killed remain unknown to Amnesty International.
Security forces shot dead Azar Mirzapour, a 49-year-old nurse and mother of four, on 16 November in the city of Karaj, Alborz province. On her way home from work, she called her children to say she was minutes away, but the streets were busy because of the ongoing protests. Her family never saw or heard from her again. They searched for her at several police stations, initially suspecting that she was arrested. After about two days, they discovered her name in a list at a mortuary. The Iranian authorities forced her family to sign a statement not to speak to the media. Following Azar Mirzapour’s funeral, her family tried in vain to seek information from various state bodies about the circumstances of her killing and those responsible. One prosecution official denied that security forces were responsible, while a police official accused her of being a “rioter” whose “destiny” was to be killed.
Bahman Jafari, 28, was on his way to work in Shiraz, Fars province, when security forces shot him at 9 am on 17 November. He died in an ambulance before reaching the hospital. Hospital staff told his family that his body had been taken to the Legal Medicine Organization, a state forensic institute supervised by the judiciary. The authorities only released his body to his family a week later after they signed an agreement to tell people that he died in a car accident and not to speak to the media. The authorities blocked his burial in central Shiraz, instead forcing them to bury him in a cemetery around 40 kilometres away. They only allowed immediate family members to attend the funeral, where security and intelligence officials harassed and intimidated mourners. The authorities also banned his family from holding a public memorial marking the 40th day of his death.
The lethal force used and covered-up by the communication blackout, cannot be justified.
According to our extensive research, including video analysis, in almost all protests that took place between 15 and 19 November, there is no evidence that protesters posed an imminent threat to life or of causing serious injury to another person. As such, the use of firearms by the authorities was completely unwarranted. Information obtained from eyewitnesses suggested that, in most cases, security forces deliberately fired live ammunition at victims’ heads or torsos. This claim is supported by the description of injuries cited on 35 death or burial certificates seen by Amnesty International.
Overall, for nearly half of the victims (153), we were able to corroborate the types of fatal injuries they sustained. In at least 70 cases, victims were shot in their head and/or neck, and in at least 52 cases, in their chest and/or heart.
The ability of people to access communication technologies in a secure and private manner has become vital for the organization and conduct of peaceful assemblies and is an essential tool for effective human rights work. Imposing internet shutdowns and restrictions when people are protesting does not increase safety and security. Rather, it stops important information from reaching citizens—such as how to find areas of safety or contact emergency services. It also prevents international and local organisations from documenting human rights violations—such as killings or the disproportionate use of force by the police or military.
Activities such as organising protests, speaking freely against government policies, and documenting and disseminating information on human rights violations all rely on the ability to access the internet. Such activities are protected under international human rights law, which also guards against unjustified internet shutdowns.
Governments must never shut down the internet in the way seen during Iran’s November 2019 protests to plunge people into darkness, to conceal crimes and other serious human rights violations and to perpetuate impunity. During this brutal crackdown, the Iranian authorities killed over 300 people and carried out mass arrests.
Victims, survivors, their families and society as a whole deserve truth and justice now.
The names and details of the 304 people killed by the Iranian security services between 15 and 18 November 2019
Note: On 16 Novemeber 2021, Amnesty International updated the number of recorded victims to 323. See the downloadable spreadsheet below for the updated dataset.
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Watch 121 videos verified by Amnesty International.
The videos are sorted alphabetically by city: Abadan, Aderan, Ahvaz, Andisheh, Arak, Behbahan, Bushehr, Esfahan, Eslamshahr, Fardis, Gorgan, Javanroud, Karaj, Kermanshah, Khoramshahr, Mahshahr, Mariwan, Mashhad, Meshkin Dasht, Najaf Abad, Neyshabur, Sadra, Sanandaj, Shahriar, Shiraz, Tabriz, Tehran, Urumieh, Yasuj, and Zanjan.
Please be aware that the videos in this archive may show police violence against protesters, shootings or audio of shootings, or other violent events.
Abadan, Khuzestan
Aderan, Tehran
Aderan, Tehran
Ahvaz, Khuzestan
Ahvaz, Khuzestan
Ahvaz, Khuzestan
Ahvaz, Khuzestan
Ahvaz, Khuzestan
Andisheh, Tehran
Andisheh, Tehran
Andisheh, Tehran
Andisheh, Tehran
Andisheh, Tehran
Andisheh, Tehran
Arak, Markazi
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Behbahan, Khuzestan
Bushehr, Bushehr
Bushehr, Bushehr
Bushehr, Bushehr
Bushehr, Bushehr
Bushehr, Bushehr
Esfahan, Esfahan
Esfahan, Esfahan
Esfahan, Esfahan
Esfahan, Esfahan
Esfahan, Esfahan
Esfahan, Esfahan
Esfahan, Esfahan
Eslamshahr, Tehran
Fardis, Alborz
Gorgan, Golestan
Gorgan, Golestan
Javanroud, Kermanshah
Javanroud, Kermanshah
Javanroud, Kermanshah
Javanroud, Kermanshah
Karaj, Alborz
Karaj, Alborz
Karaj, Alborz
Karaj, Alborz
Karaj, Alborz
Kermanshah, Kermanshah
Kermanshah, Kermanshah
Kermanshah, Kermanshah
Kermanshah, Kermanshah
Kermanshah, Kermanshah
Khoramshahr, Khuzestan
Khoramshahr, Khuzestan
Khoramshahr, Khuzestan
Mahshahr, Khuzestan
Mahshahr, Khuzestan
Mahshahr, Khuzestan
Mahshahr, Khuzestan
Mahshahr, Khuzestan
Mahshahr, Khuzestan
Mahshahr, Khuzestan
Mariwan, Kurdistan
Mariwan, Kurdistan
Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi
Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi
Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi
Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi
Meshkin Dasht, Alborz
Meshkin Dasht, Alborz
Najaf Abad, Esfahan
Neyshabur, Khorasan Razavi
Sadra, Fars
Sadra, Fars
Sadra, Fars
Sanandaj, Kurdistan
Shahriar, Tehran
Shahriar, Tehran
Shahriar, Tehran
Shahriar, Tehran
Shahriar, Tehran
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Shiraz, Fars
Tabriz, East Azerbaijan
Tabriz, East Azerbaijan
Tabriz, East Azerbaijan
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Tehran, Tehran
Urumieh, West Azerbaijan
Yasuj, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad
Zanjan, Zanjan
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Learn about Amnesty International’s research, campaigning, and advocacy to end human rights abuses in Iran.
Amnesty International is a member of the #KeepItOn coalition, a global effort to end internet shutdowns.
