IBA condemns Iran's use of lethal force on protestors
The International Bar Association (IBA) has strongly condemned Iran for serious and repeated breaches of its binding obligations under international law, following an intensifying state crackdown on nationwide protests.
The suppression has reportedly resulted in hundreds of deaths, thousands of arrests and a near-total shutdown of internet and telecommunications services, thereby becoming the most significant unrest in years.
The demonstrations, initially triggered in December 2025 by the devaluation of the Iranian rial and soaring costs for essential items such as food and fuel, have expanded into sustained protests across cities and towns in all 31 provinces against political repression, corruption and systemic failures of governance.
Despite the largely civilian and decentralised nature of the protests, Iranian authorities have responded with militarised force, deploying the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Basij paramilitaries and law enforcement agencies using firearms, shotguns and tear gas.
Credible reports from independent monitoring groups and images broadcast by major information networks indicate that live ammunition capable of causing death or serious injuries has been used against unarmed demonstrators including students and workers, in residential areas and near universities in multiple cities, resulting in a rapidly rising number of fatalities and serious injuries.
No judicial oversight
Reports point to hundreds of fatalities and more than ten thousand arrests, many carried out without transparency or judicial oversight.
IBA President Claudio Visco (pictured) stated: ‘The reported use of lethal force against unarmed demonstrators is not a matter of internal security discretion – it is a clear violation of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR], to which Iran is legally bound.
“International law permits the use of lethal force only as a last resort when a person or others are facing an imminent threat of death or grave harm but always in strict adherence to principles of necessity, proportionality and precaution. The facts emerging from Iran point in the opposite direction.”