The Iranian government and security forces committed “crimes against humanity” in suppressing large nationwide protests in 2019.

The Iran Atrocities (Aban) Tribunal, convened by various human rights groups, heard evidence from over 250 witnesses as it investigated whether the Iranian regime had violated international law in its response to the demonstrations.

Protests, which were on a scale in Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution that has been repeated across the country in recent weeks, erupted nationwide in November 2019 following a sudden spike in fuel prices.

Activists say authorities only managed to enforce control after a ruthless crackdown that has left at least 304 people dead after protesters were deliberately shot, according to Amnesty International.

The London tribunal said expert evidence suggested the true number killed was likely far greater, and possibly as high as 1,515.

“The panel unanimously considers that the Iranian government and security forces have developed and implemented a plan to commit crimes against humanity,” the tribunal’s six legal experts said in their summary of the verdict.

It found that various branches of the regime – from the Interior Ministry to the feared Basij militia – carried out murder, detention, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence to quell the protests and cover up their crimes.

Five of the six legal professionals also concluded that protesters and bystanders were “discriminated against” “because of their collective involvement in the protests or their perceived association” with them.

They named 161 people as perpetrators of the alleged crimes against humanity, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, former President Hassan Rouhani and nearly a dozen other senior figures in the regime.

“We’ve identified some of those responsible, in the sense that there’s a case to answer,” Wayne Jordash, a criminal defense lawyer who chaired the arbitration panel, told AFP after the verdict was read at an event in London.

He said the report had particular resonance now that protesters faced renewed violent repression as they demonstrated across Iran against the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

“The current protests look like the Aban 2019 protests and the government response looks pretty much the same,” Jordash added.

“I would be very surprised if the government were not again involved in a series of crimes against humanity and gross human rights abuses.”

The Aban Tribunal – named after the Iranian month in which the events took place – was set up by NGOs including the London-based Justice for Iran, which campaigns against impunity for crimes in Iran, and the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights ( HER). .

It heard evidence at two public hearings, held in London last November and online in February, and analyzed video, written and expert testimony, and oral testimony from witnesses.

Some of these witnesses and families of those killed or imprisoned during the protests attended the reading of the sentence in London and held up photos of their families at the end.

“Today it makes me very happy – it should have happened much sooner,” said Mohammad Amin, 42, an Iranian exile who has lived in the UK since last year and witnessed the crackdown in Balochistan in south-east Iran.

“A lot of people in my area, in my city … have been injured and killed, and the people in my area have really suffered the most,” he told AFP through a translator.

“I saw the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and the security forces shooting at protesters…they just killed people.”

The Iranian government could not be immediately reached for comment on the tribunal’s conclusions.