WASHINGTON—Freedom House has condemned the Iranian authorities’ escalating violent response to widespread protests over the country’s soaring cost of living, the largest demonstrations since 2022.
Iran Protests Met With Violence, Repression
The regime’s use of lethal force, mass arrests, intimidation, and collective punishment against students, bazaar merchants, women, workers, journalists, lawyers, and other members of civil society is a “flagrant attempt to crush legitimate public dissent,” according to a statement released by Freedom House Presidents Gerardo Berthin and Annie Boyajian.
Protests began last Sunday with shopkeepers in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar and have spread across the country, fueled by skyrocketing inflation resulting from the regime’s corruption and economic mismanagement. Authorities have responded with coercion rather than addressing the public’s demands for rights and accountability.
Freedom House asserts that this is not a series of isolated demonstrations, but part of a pattern of criminalizing peaceful civic engagement and treating it as a security threat. The Iranian regime has a documented history of repressing rights to peaceful assembly, free expression, and belief.
Authorities have also restricted access to information through internet disruptions, censorship, and digital surveillance, mirroring a global trend of authoritarian governments weaponizing technology to suppress dissent. Concerns are growing for the safety of human rights defenders and political prisoners.
Freedom House is calling on Iranian authorities to immediately cease violence against peaceful demonstrators, release those detained for exercising their rights, restore internet access, and allow independent monitors access to detention facilities. Reports indicate deteriorating health of prisoners, denial of due process, and retaliatory sentencing.
The organization also urges democratic governments to increase diplomatic pressure, including expulsions of regime diplomats and targeted sanctions against officials responsible for human rights violations. Increased support for Iranian civil society, independent media, and secure communication tools is also recommended.
Iran is currently rated Not Free in both Freedom in the World 2025 and Freedom on the Net 2025.
Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting freedom worldwide.
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