As summer temperatures soared in the Iranian province of Khuzestan, water shortages became a pronounced crisis, sparking mass protests in a number of cities and towns including Ahvaz, Khorramshahr, Hamidiyeh, and Mahshahr. The first such demonstrations were recorded on July 15, and these helped to establish the messaging that would define the protests for two weeks and counting.

Many participants in the first night’s protests chanted, “We will not accept humiliation.” Over time, that slogan has been adapted to reflect the government’s violent response, so that many current participants are chanting, “Iranians die, but we will not accept humiliation.” The first known fatality from the unrest took place on the second day, July 16, and the victim was identified as 26-year-old Mostafa Na’imawi.

24th June 2021 - In an online conference by Iranian activists and witnesses to the 1988 massacre, human rights experts and jurists weighed in on the implications of Ebrahim Raisi becoming the Iranian regime’s president, and the role that the international community must play to hold the regime’s authorities to account for their crimes.

3rd July 2021 - Graduate teachers held a rally in front of the education ministry, protesting the unemployment conditions. The teachers were chanting, “We have science degrees, what we don't have are jobs,” “Our demand is employment,” and “We will not leave until we get our rights.”

These teachers have been regularly protesting in the past few months. The protesters are graduate teachers, known as karnam-e sabz (green report cardholders), who have passed the education ministry’s employment exam with an acceptable grade.

19th June 2021 - Amnesty International's Secretary-General, Agnes Callamard, expressed her condemnation of the installation of Ebrahim Raisi as the regime's president following the sham election which took place on 18th June in Iran.

She said in a statement: “That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance, and torture is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran.

26 June 2021 - In a 45-page report, Amnesty International has analyzed a letter written by prisoner of conscience, Habib Afkari, brother of Navid Afkari (champion wrestler executed by the regime for his participation in the nationwide peaceful protests in 2019), and Vahid Afkari also currently in prison.

Habib's letter is a detailed and harrowing account of the brothers' arrest by the regime security forces following their participation in the 2019 uprisings in Iran. Amnesty International has explained that the accounts in this letter are part of a widespread problem in Iran, all going back to the regime.

In an open letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, more than 150 former UN officials and human rights experts called for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into the 1988 mass extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances in Iran. The letter reiterates the devastating impact that the 1988 massacre has had on the families of the victims and the Iranian society. It reads in part, “We appeal to the UN Human Rights Council to end the culture of impunity that exists in Iran by establishing a Commission of Inquiry into the 1988 mass extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances. We urge High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to support the establishment of such a Commission.”