Ahead of the presentation of the UN Secretary-General’s report on Iran on 16 October 2025 and the combined briefings of the UN Special Rapporteur and the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Iran to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly on 30 October 2025, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hussein Baoumi, said:
“UN Member states must confront the Iranian authorities’ shocking execution spree with the urgency it demands. More than 1,000 people have already been executed in Iran since the beginning of 2025 – an average of four a day. Since the Woman Life Freedom uprising of 2022, the Iranian authorities have increasingly weaponized the death penalty to instill fear among the population, crush dissent and punish marginalized communities. This year, executions have reached a scale not seen in Iran since 1989.
“The use of the death penalty for drug-related offences continues at a horrifying rate, in blatant breach of Iran’s obligations under international law. Executions are being carried out following grossly unfair trials held behind closed doors, amid widespread patterns of torture and forced ‘confessions’.
Even by Iran’s own bleak record, this is a grim moment that demands a serious and coordinated international response.
Hussein Baoumi, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“For years, Iranian authorities have sought to normalize the execution of hundreds of people each year, but this grotesque assault on the right to life must not be treated like business as usual while hundreds of families mourn their loved ones and the lives of thousands more on death row are at risk. Even by Iran’s own bleak record, this is a grim moment that demands a serious and coordinated international response.
“We call on all UN member states to urgently speak up, including by making strong oral statements during the upcoming Third Committee Interactive Dialogue on Iran. States must demand that the Iranian authorities immediately halt all executions, quash death sentences imposed after unfair trials, revoke lethal anti-narcotic laws, and establish an official moratorium with a view to fully abolishing the death penalty. We also call on the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to pressure the Iranian authorities to reform their drug control policies in a way that respects human rights.
“Given the systemic impunity prevailing in Iran for serious human rights violations, we also urge states to pursue accountability measures, including by initiating criminal investigations under universal jurisdiction into torture and other crimes under international law committed in Iran, with a view to issuing arrest warrants for officials against whom there is evidence of criminal responsibility.”
Background
The thousands of people at risk of execution in Iran include those sentenced for drug-related offences in violation of international law, which restricts the use of the death penalty to only ‘the most serious crimes’ involving intentional killing, as well as others sentenced to death on vaguely defined charges such as “enmity against God” and “corruption on earth” in politically motivated cases.
Executions in Iran consistently follow grossly unfair trials, including before Revolutionary Courts, which lack independence and collude with security and intelligence forces to sentence people to death. Oppressed ethnic minorities and communities from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, including Afghans, Ahwazi Arabs, Baluchis, and Kurds, are disproportionately impacted by executions.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of who is accused, the nature or circumstances of the crime, guilt or innocence, or the method of execution. The death penalty violates the most fundamental human right – the right to life. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
Join our campaign to take Urgent Action to defend the thousands of people at risk of execution in Iran.
Across the world, a number of young people – known as the Gen Z movement – are taking to the streets and fighting for their rights. In Madagascar, they’re protesting chronic water shortages and power cuts. In Peru, the right to therapeutic abortions is under threat.And in Indonesia, young people are raising their voices against the resurgence of authoritarian practices.
However, instead of facilitating and protecting the right to peaceful protest, security forces are responding with unlawful force, putting young peoples’ lives in danger.Young people should not have to risk their lives to protest.
Amnesty International is calling on governments all over the world to negotiate a Torture-Free Trade Treaty at the United Nations to prohibit inherently abusive law enforcement equipment and to regulate the trade in standard policing equipment often used to commit torture and other ill-treatment. Without effective human rights-based controls, people will continue to suffer physical and psychological harms at the hands of authorities.
In this story, four young activists from the Gen Z movement share why they’re determined to protest, despite the dangers they’re facing…
Robert*, 20, Madagascar
We want our voices to be heard. For too long, young people have been ignored, even though we represent the future of this nation.
Protesting is not just an act of resistance. We are exercising our fundamental right to speak out and express our discontent.
By being present in the streets and participating in protests, we are showing that we will no longer accept silence and that we’re putting pressure on those in power to finally listen to the people they are supposed to serve. We are protesting for a better future, and we are rejecting a system that has left education abandoned, leaving an entire generation behind.
Silence protects the oppressors, while visibility protects the people.
Robert*, 20, Madagascar
However, when we protest, we risk our lives. Law enforcement officials often use unlawful force against protesters, leading to several cases of deaths and serious injuries. We’re also in constant danger of being arrested simply for speaking out or for sharing information. We need the international media to shed light on what is happening here. Silence protects the oppressors, while visibility protects the people.
Beyond our individual safety, the greatest danger is that this country continues to sink deeper into poverty, while a handful of corrupt politicians and businessmen enrich themselves. If nothing changes, generations of Malagasy will remain trapped in misery. That is the real danger we are fighting to prevent.
This is not only about today’s anger, it is about building tomorrow’s hope. Every voice, every step we take, is pressure on this government and its president to step aside. For many, this movement represents the dawn of true change, change led by the people and for the people. It is not just political; it is human.
Humanity must win because it is people who build nations, not regimes, not corrupt elites. If humanity loses, then the country loses its very soul. But if humanity wins, then Madagascar can finally rise, stronger and fairer, for every Malagasy people.
*Name and age has been changed for security purposes. This testimony was shared on 7 October.
Paola, 26, activist and youth delegate, Peru
Protesting as a young person in my country means standing up to all human rights violations whatever they might be. I protest for a more just world where raising my voice isn’t synonymous with death. I protest because I want every person to feel free and proud to be who they are and to love whoever they want. I protest and mobilize because I want an ecosystem that is respected and loved.
When I raise my voice, I feel happy because I’m contributing to a world where we can hopefully all enjoy our human rights one day.
I am a human rights activist for Amnesty International Peru and our organization stands for resistance, companionship, and humanity. I don’t feel alone because I have other comrades fighting with me in different regions of the country.
Paola is a human rights activist for Amnesty International Peru.
Yet, being a human rights defender in Peru can be a challenge. Recently, I participated in the protests on 28 September in Chiclayo, Lambayeque – a region located in northern Perú. We were protesting because the right to therapeutic abortion is at risk. Many girls who are survivors of rape continue to be forced to face unwanted pregnancies, and not only are they denied their right to safe abortion, they face cruel treatment and in some cases criminalization. This continues to happen, despite the alarming figures on sexual violence in 2024, where 12,183 women, girls, and adolescents reported being victims of sexual violence.
In my country, we are facing a crisis of legitimacy and trust in institutions and authorities, which is why we are protesting every week and being repressed by the police. When we take to the streets, we are faced with various political and economic forces that don’t want to see us there. My message to everyone is that humanity must win and it will, because I can see it happening every day.
Derry, 25, student, Indonesia
Joining demonstrations is not merely an act of protest, but a declaration of conscience. It is how we stand up for justice and affirm our solidarity with the people. By taking to the streets, we draw a clear line between those who stand for fairness and those who remain silent in the face of oppression. For us, silence is complicity. Speaking up means choosing justice over fear.
We are raising our voices against the resurgence of authoritarian practices. Governments are sliding towards repressive tendencies, masking exploitative policies under broad slogans. These policies harm both the environment and marginalized communities, especially Indigenous Peoples, while betraying fundamental principles of human rights and good governance. Our demand is clear: a total structural and institutional reform toward a more humane, rights-based approach to governance.
We face brutal repression for protesting.
Derry, 25, Indonesia
Yet, we face brutal repression for protesting. When I served as a volunteer paramedic during the late-August protests, I saw how the police fired their weapons recklessly into the dark after cutting the electricity and street lights. Many of our friends were arrested without reason, detained without due process, and charged on fabricated grounds. These are not random incidents, they are symptoms of a state that fears its own people.
Derry has witnessed just how dangerous protesting can be in Indonesia.
This movement is very important as it symbolizes proof that our generation, Gen Z, is willing to stand up and fight for justice in our country. Gen Z has proven that we are not indifferent. We care, we act, and we fight for justice.
I believe my contribution, though it might be small, can ignite the change we have always fought for. Humanity must prevail because for me it represents the highest ideal of all struggles: political, cultural, and economic alike. Every revolution, at its core, seeks a world where we coexist in dignity and mutual respect. That is why humanity must remain the compass of every civil movement, for it embodies the ultimate vision we all strive toward: a truly civilized humanity.
As for my message to authorities: We will always exist — and we will multiply. The harder you try to silence us, the louder we will become. We are not afraid because repression only exposes your fear. It shows that you, not us, are terrified of the truth and afraid of the people.
Rova, 23, Madagascan student based in Malaysia
As Generation Z, protesting is not a choice; it’s a moral necessity. We are growing up in a world where injustice has become a daily occurrence, where corruption stifles hope, and where silence is sometimes more dangerous than speaking out.
In Madagascar, young people live in a harsh reality: poverty, inequality, power cuts, abuse of power, and fear of expressing their opinions. Yet, despite these obstacles, we choose to speak out, to march, to denounce.
I fight for social justice, transparency, and human dignity. I fight for social and environmental justice, for a true democracy where every voice counts, where young people are no longer considered mere spectators. I fight for Madagascar—a magnificent but wounded country, where so much potential is stifled by the abuse of power and poverty. I also fight so that young people, wherever they are, can believe they have a role in their country’s history.
My fight is peaceful, but profound: I believe that no society can develop sustainably without truth and equity. Yet, even from a distance, there are risks. Speaking openly about the Malagasy political situation can be misunderstood, monitored, or manipulated. But the greatest risk would be to remain silent. I prefer to be heard for a moment rather than complicit in my silence.
For Rova, protesting is not a choice. It’s a moral necessity.
To the authorities that stand in our way, I want to tell them that enforced silence has never built peace. True peace is not born of fear, but of dialogue and respect. You can stop voices, but you cannot stop thought. You can lock up bodies, but never ideas. What you see in the streets today are not troublemakers: they are awakening consciences, young people who refuse to let their futures waste away in indifference.
Young people are not their enemy. We are not fighting against them, but against a system that is destroying our future. We are not seeking confrontation, but construction. Silencing a voice is delaying inevitable change.
Our movement is much more than a political revolt. It is a civic renaissance. If humanity wins, it means that truth, solidarity, and freedom triumph over fear, manipulation, and indifference. Because humanity isn’t an abstract idea—it’s who we are, it’s our ability to feel the pain of others as our own. If injustice wins in Madagascar, then all of humanity loses a piece of its soul.
I deeply believe that every local struggle echoes globally: when a people finds its voice again, the whole world breathes a little easier. And to those demonstrating on site—the young people, the students, the mothers, the teachers—I owe them my voice, because their courage is the reason we continue to hope.
This testimony was shared on 8 October.
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Ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai, who is currently imprisoned in an unknown location in China on unsubstantiated “spying” charges, Amnesty International’s China Director Sarah Brooks said:
“Ten years after Gui Minhai’s disappearance, his case stands as a chilling warning to anyone who dares to write or publish ideas that fall foul of the government’s censorship machine.
“Gui’s abduction, prosecutions and convictions violate every principle of international law. His case is not an isolated injustice, but an early example of a deliberate pattern of repression that seeks to silence dissent and that doesn’t hesitate to reach beyond China’s borders to do so.
“Governments, in particular Sweden, other EU Member States and the EU itself, must not allow Gui Minhai to be forgotten. They should continue to publicly and consistently demand his release, exerting leverage through all tools at their disposal to urge the Chinese authorities to disclose his whereabouts and ensure consular access and the full protection of his rights.
“For a decade, China has kept Gui Minhai hidden from the world and, worse, those who love him — denying him regular access to his relatives, lawyers, and independent medical care. This cruel secrecy must end. Gui Minhai must be released immediately and unconditionally.”
Background
Gui Minhai’s Causeway Bay Bookstore in Hong Kong was known for its books on Chinese leaders and political scandals which are banned in mainland China but popular with mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong.
He went missing in Thailand on 17 October 2015 – one of five Hong Kong–based publishers and booksellers who disappeared in late 2015 after publishing books critical of the Chinese government.
Gui reappeared on Chinese state media in 2016, giving an apparently forced confession to a hit-and-run several years earlier. He was released in 2017 but appears to have been under tight police surveillance, with his freedom of movement curtailed. He was seized by plainclothes police while travelling from Shanghai to Beijing for medical reasons with two Swedish diplomats in January 2018.
In February 2020, he was sentenced in a sham trial to 10 years in prison on charges of “illegally providing intelligence to foreign entities”. He remains in jail at an unconfirmed location and has been denied access to his family and Swedish consular officials. Chinese authorities claim that this is because he sought the reinstatement of his Chinese nationality – a claim belied by Swedish government statements confirming his desire to renew his identity documents.
His daughter Angela Gui has campaigned tirelessly for her father’s release and says she has faced intimidation from Chinese state agents in an attempt to silence her.
Amnesty International, Peace Brigades International and Front Line Defenders will be closely monitoring the sentencing this week of Indigenous land defenders who have been criminalized by Canada for protecting unceded Wet’suwet’en Territory against the construction of a fossil-fuel pipeline.
A delegation of representatives from Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section, the organization’s Americas Regional Office, and the Canadian office of Peace Brigades International (PBI-Canada) will attend the hearings in Smithers, British Columbia in person. Front Line Defenders (FLD), an international human rights organization that protects human rights defenders at risk, will monitor the proceedings from abroad.
Starting on 15 October, a British Columbia judge will preside over the three-day sentencing hearing for Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), a Wing Chief (Cas Yikh, or Grizzly Bear House) of the Gidimt’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, Shaylynn Sampson, a Gitxsan with Wet’suwet’en family connections, and Corey “Jayohcee” Jocko, a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne.
The defenders were arrested in November 2021 during a heavily militarized Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) raid on Wet’suwet’en Territory. Sleydo’, Sampson and Jocko were charged with, and later convicted of, defying a controversial B.C. court order forbidding land defence actions near the construction of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) liquefied natural gas pipeline.
Amnesty International’s research has concluded that the injunction order unduly restricts the human rights of the land defenders and the Indigenous rights of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. By extension, the arrests and prosecution of the land defenders represent a serious violation of their rights.
“We are proud to return to Smithers – on the unceded traditional territory of the Wet’suweten Nation – to express our solidarity with Sleydo’, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko, who have been unfairly criminalized by Canada for exercising their rights,” said Erin Riley-Oettl, Manager of Human Rights Law, Campaigns and Advocacy for Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “Amnesty International will not hesitate to designate these courageous defenders as prisoners of conscience if they are sentenced to jail or house arrest.”
“We are deeply concerned by the criminalization of these land and environmental defenders who were upholding ‘Anuk niwh’iten (Wet’suwet’en law) and protecting unceded territory from a destructive extractivist megaproject,” said Brent Patterson, the coordinator of PBI-Canada. “The surveillance, harassment, intimidation and offensive remarks made against them by the RCMP is disturbing. This must end. Any sentencing involving either jail time or house arrest would be unjust and unwarranted.”
“The case of the Wet’suwet’en land defenders adds to an alarming pattern of criminalisation of Indigenous defenders in the Americas and sets a dangerous precedent for land defence in Canada,” said Sandra Patargo, Protection Coordinator for North America, Central America and the Caribbean at Front Line Defenders. “Ensuring protection and justice for defenders of Wet’suwet’en land is an obligation of the Canadian government and an international responsibility in a context where Indigenous defenders are leading the global struggle for the defence of Indigenous rights and the environment. Front Line Defenders will continue to accompany Sleydo’, Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko until they can continue to defend their territory in freedom.”
Compounding violations of Indigenous rights
Construction of the 670-kilometre CGL pipeline project through Wet’suwet’en territory proceeded without the free, prior and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, whom the Supreme Court of Canada has recognized as the ancestral authority of the Nation. (According to the Supreme Court’s Delgamuukw decision (1997), their rights and title were never extinguished.) This represents a violation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Rights (UNDRIP), which holds that major infrastructure or resource-extraction projects must not go ahead unless they have received the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous Nations whose territories are affected by the development. Canada has endorsed UNDRIP and, in 2021, adopted it into federal law.
Moreover, rights violations continue to compound as Canada, B.C. and the international business consortium behind the CGL pipeline advance Phase II of the project. Aimed at doubling the output of the LNG export facility in Kitimat, B.C., Phase II would see seven new compressor stations built along the CGL pipeline route, including two on Wet’suwet’en Territory – again without the free, prior and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.
“Convicting Sleydo’, Shaylynn, and Corey for upholding Wet’suwet’en law and defending our territory is outrageous,” said Chief Na’Moks, of the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s Tsayu Clan. “With Canada and B.C. attacking Indigenous people for exercising their rights, stream-rolling destructive pipeline infrastructure through our territory, destroying our homes, and threatening our traditional ways of life, why aren’t they being treated like criminals or charged with a crime?
“Time after time, Canada keeps privileging the interests of wealthy investors and giant corporations over the lives and rights of Indigenous Peoples and the natural environment that everyone – not just Indigenous Peoples – depend on. How can the Canadian state claim to champion human rights, let alone reconciliation, when it physically assaults and criminalizes Indigenous defenders speaking out for justice?”
“The chicanery is obvious on the part of the B.C. government and industry,” said Gidemt’en Clan Chief Woos. “The Wet’suwet’en people have always maintained their sovereignty over the 22,000 square kilometres of territorial lands.”
Despite a B.C. judge’s decision to convict Sleydo’, Sampson and Jocko of contempt of court, he did acknowledge that their rights had been infringed during their arrests. In response to an abuse-of-process claim filed by the defenders’ legal team, the judge ruled in February that the conduct, including anti-Indigenous racist statements, of some RCMP members during the November 2021 raid did indeed violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The ruling validates both the experiences of these land defenders and the broader experience of colonial violence that Indigenous Peoples have faced for more than 100 years from the RCMP. However, the judge refused to stay all charges against the defenders and said he would instead consider reduced sentences.
Canada at risk of new prisoner-of-conscience declaration
Amnesty International is prepared to declare Sleydo’, Sampson or Jocko a prisoner of conscience in the event the court sentences one or more of them to jail or house arrest. If that comes to pass, it would be only the second time that Amnesty has applied a prisoner-of-conscience declaration to a person held by Canada.
In July 2024, Chief Dsta’hyl, a Wing Chief (Likhts’amisyu Clan) of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, became the first person held by Canada to be declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. At the time, the 68-year-old land defender was serving a 60-day house arrest sentence after he was convicted of contempt of court for allegedly violating the B.C. court injunction. RCMP officers arrested Chief Dsta’hyl in October 2021 during a blockade of the Morice Forest Service Road aimed at halting the construction of the CGL pipeline through Wet’suwet’en Territory.
On the cusp of his release from house arrest in September 2024, Chief Dsta’hyl thanked well-wishers worldwide and urged them to keep the pressure on Canada to respect the rights of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.
“The federal government and the province have the power to issue a declaration recognizing our ownership of our 22,000 square kilometres of territory,” he said in a written statement. “Their unwillingness to do it is beyond me. They went as far as signing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and making other promises, but those are smokescreens to appease the population. They haven’t followed through on their word. This is where people can put pressure on the government and force them into finally recognizing our rights.”
Amnesty International and 34 other organizations released a joint letterwelcoming the publication of the agreement between the Brazilian government and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on hosting the COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, between 10-21 November 2025.
“Civil society’s efforts to achieve transparency in host country agreements that are signed before the major UN climate conference have paid off with the publication of the COP30 agreement on the UNFCCC website. We are pleased to see that several recommendations from civil society from previous years have been implemented, and we urge the UNFCCC to ensure that these are carried over in future host country agreements,” Amnesty International’s Climate Justice Policy Advisor, Ann Harrison, said.
“It’s commendable that the COP30 host country agreement includes a commitment to uphold the human rights of all participants and to ensure that all aspects of the meetings are planned and organized in an inclusive and non-discriminatory manner.
“However, the agreement includes no explicit guarantee by Brazil to respect, protect and fulfil the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly outside the Blue Zone for people, whether Brazilian nationals or not, who wish to express their views, including on COP30.”
Amnesty International is also concerned that provisions on sponsorship appear to have been weakened, potentially enabling fossil fuel and other companies whose activities undermine the goals of the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement to exert undue influence on the presidency. All sponsorships and partnerships for COP30 should be made public immediately.
The UNFCCC Secretariat must urgently put in place an accountability framework, including a conflict-of-interest policy, to be reflected in future host country agreements.
Amnesty International is also calling on authorities to address accommodation prices in Belém, which remain unaffordable for many civil society, observer organizations and Indigenous Peoples representatives, putting their participation at risk, despite the affordability clause (Article 7) in the COP30 agreement.
Civil society’s efforts to achieve transparency in host country agreements that are signed before the major UN climate conference have paid off with the publication of the COP30 agreement on the UNFCCC website.
Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Climate Justice Policy Advisor
Background:
The COP Host Country Agreement (HCA) is a legal accord between the UNFCCC and host country authorities that sets out the terms for organizing the conference, including any immunities and privileges applicable beyond national laws. It is normally finalized months before the COP. Civil society has long demanded an opportunity to comment on the draft and that the HCA is made public immediately after its signing so it can be scrutinized to assess the extent to which civic space at COP is protected.
