Four years after her mother was killed, Mahsa Piraei is still looking for justice.
Her mother, Minoo Majidi, along with hundreds more, was killed while protesting for women's rights in Iran, with a report noting crimes against humanity against the demonstrators.
Thousands took to the streets in Iran in 2022 after Zhina Mahsa Amini was killed in custody over the way she wore her hijab, becoming known as the Women's Life Freedom protests.
The Iranian authorities responded to the protests with a bloody crackdown; Iranians and rights groups are still calling for justice, hoping one day the perpetrators will be held accountable.
"When my mother and many people went to the streets, the regime killed them because they wanted to silence them," Iranian activist Mahsa Piraei told The New Arab.
"I believe that I need to continue my mother's and the others' way not to be silenced and talk about what they wanted and why they went to the street and the crimes that happened to them."
To mark four years, rights group Amnesty International released a "historical" report on Thursday, finding that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during its crackdown, as well as calling for the international community to help prevent future repression.
Its 1,000-page report, Architects of Atrocities: State Machinery Orchestrating Crimes Against Humanity in Iran's 2022 Woman Life Freedom Uprising, detailed the many crimes committed during the protests.
In a press conference held at its headquarters in London, Amnesty detailed the systemic and widespread nature of the repression that took place, as presented by Piraei, Bahreini and the rights group's Secretary General.
"We are showing that it is not individuals that are behind it; it is a system," Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, told The New Arab. "It is a system of security forces, it is a system of political actors, it is a system of religious actors, and it is a system of judicial actors. It is a systemic way of governing Iran.
"Repression is systemic, and it is part of how Iran is being governed at the moment."
Crimes include murder, torture, arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, torture or other ill-treatment of thousands of men, women and children, as well as persecution of bereaved relatives.
The group's years of research documented the deaths of 377 protesters and bystanders, including 56 children, based on evidence gathered and interviews with 270 people, including protesters, former detainees, eyewitnesses, and journalists.
Others died in custody, upon release from custody or in suspicious circumstances.
Amnesty International identified 87 officials in the report, and despite sharing the findings with Iran's Supreme Leader and senior security officials, it had not received a response at the time of publication.
"Our central point is that the crisis of impunity in Iran, the fact that the Iranian authorities are not held accountable for crimes against humanity, is fueling further bloodshed in the country," Raha Bahreini, Iran Researcher at Amnesty International, told The New Arab. "It's exposing people to protest massacres."
"This investigation is also a tribute to the many protesters and bystanders who lost their lives and families of those killed who continue to seek truth and justice despite immense risk."
'Central call on the international community'
After years of atrocities, as well as witnessing the authorities' crackdown during the January 2026 protests, which saw thousands of protesters killed, the rights group are calling on the international community to seek justice.
"We did this in-depth investigation because we believe that it is beyond time for the international community to pursue justice for repeated protest massacres in Iran," Bahreini explained.
"We also did this in-depth investigation because people in Iran remain at risk of further massacres if the international community fails to pursue international justice."
Amnesty International believe the UN General Assembly should create a "comprehensive international justice approach" to tackle impunity for the repeated mass protest killings.
It is also calling for Iran to be referred to the International Criminal Court, and the group will submit the evidence to national prosecution authorities worldwide to pursue domestic criminal investigations.
"We also want the truth to be known about these horrific killings and patterns of torture that are committed against protesters in Iran who demand dignity, freedom, and fundamental political change," Bahreini said.
Callamard said the report is meant to remind world leaders that everything has a cost, noting that the need for justice is disappearing from the international agenda.
"Iranian people that are paying the cost of what is happening around the region and around the world, that report is replacing people at the heart of what should be the international agenda," the secretary general explained.
"It is reminding people that there are multiple, multiple violations and crimes committed against people, and that the international community is completely failing them at the moment, not just a little failure, a complete failure."
"It is sending the message to the victims and to their families: you are not alone, you are being heard, there are people here in London and elsewhere around the world that are standing by you, and that will do everything in their power to make sure your voice does not get silenced."
As Piraei, who continues to act as a vessel for her mother, fears that without international help, history will repeat itself, as the world saw earlier this year.
"We cannot be silent, and we need to ask the international communities and human rights communities to help people of Iran because we believe without the international community's help, many people get slaughtered again," Piraei said.
"We've seen that in January 2026, that could happen again."