T0 all international organizations and institutions, political parties, and political organizations worldwide:
The January uprising in Iran is now at risk of a new wave of mass killings, as thousands of detained protesters face the imminent threat of execution, enforced disappearance, and torture.
While the Islamic Republic of Iran, through its bloody suppression of the January uprising, has carried out one of the most horrific mass killings in contemporary history, there is now grave concern that these atrocities may continue through the mass execution of detained protesters—whose number exceeds forty thousand.
Reports published regarding the widespread arrests during the January 2026 uprising in Iran have raised serious concerns about the perilous fate of those detained. The lack of transparency, families’ lack of access to information, and the silence of the regime’s own official institutions regarding the status of detainees have further intensified these concerns.
Detainees are subjected to systematic torture—from beatings and sexual violence to threats of execution, forced starvation, and detention in inhumane conditions. Numerous documented reports describe families left in limbo. Many families have stated that despite repeated visits to security and judicial bodies, they have received no clear information about the whereabouts or conditions of their loved ones. There are multiple reports of extrajudicial and summary executions of some detainees, attempts to fabricate narratives about the causes of their deaths, and numerous accounts of injured protesters being abducted from hospitals. This situation heightens fears of enforced disappearances and the risk of death and/or execution of detainees.
What is certain is that more than forty thousand protesters are currently held in the custody of the Islamic Republic, and their lives are seriously at risk of death and execution. A regime that previously killed tens of thousands of protesters in the streets with widespread and ruthless violence, reinforces the fear that, to preserve its disgraceful survival, it will show no regard for the lives of detainees either.
Repeated statements by officials of the Islamic Republic’s judiciary calling for “decisive action without leniency” against detainees further exacerbate these concerns. Such positions strengthen the fear that the danger of continued killings and the imposition of lethal punishments against detained protesters remains urgent and severe.
By warning the global community of the risk of continued mass killings in Iran, we call on all institutions, parties, and organizations to spare no effort in stopping the Islamic Republic’s machinery of repression, crime, and killings.
We call on all progressive forces, labor unions, and popular organizations worldwide; on all opponents of the death penalty; on our allies in the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty; and on Amnesty International to undertake coordinated action and organize a broad global movement to save detained protesters and all political prisoners in Iran.
Our clear demand is the immediate halt to the killing of protesters in Iran and the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees and political prisoners. The Islamic regime must know that the people of the world stand with the people of Iran and will not allow this regime—after those brutal massacres—to shed more blood.
The imprisoned and the grieving people of Iran look to your global solidarity with hope. We call on all freedom-loving people to assist their fellow human beings in Iran in every possible way.
International Committee Against Executions (ICAE)
Global Campaign to Stop Execution in Iran
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran (Free Them Now)
Global Network to Free Political Prisoners in Iran
January 31, 2026