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Scores Injured as Security Forces Use Unlawful Force to Crush Protests in Iran
Verified video footage, photographs and testimonies from victims and eyewitnesses on the ground obtained by Amnesty International, confirm that Iranian security forces used unlawful force against peaceful protesters who gathered across Iran following the authorities' admission that they had shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane on January 8.
WASHINGTON
Verified video footage, photographs and testimonies from victims and eyewitnesses on the ground obtained by Amnesty International, confirm that Iranian security forces used unlawful force against peaceful protesters who gathered across Iran following the authorities' admission that they had shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane on January 8.
The evidence indicates that on January 11 and 12, security forces fired pointed pellets from airguns, usually used for hunting, at peaceful protesters causing bleeding and painful injuries. Security forces also used rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters as well as kicking and punching them, beating them with batons and carrying out arbitrary arrests.
"It is appalling that Iran's security forces have violently crushed peaceful vigils and protests by people demanding justice for the 176 passengers killed on the plane and expressing their anger at the Iranian authorities' initial cover-up," said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
"The use of unlawful force in the latest demonstrations is part of a long-standing pattern by Iranian security forces."
Unlawful use of force
Testimonies and photographs obtained by Amnesty International indicate that security forces fired pointed pellets, causing painful wounds and requiring surgical treatment to remove the pellets, as well as injuries consistent with rubber bullet use. Such pellets are used for hunting small game and are completely inappropriate for use in any policing situation.
The organization's Digital Verification Corps (DVC) also verified dozens of videos showing security forces firing tear gas into crowds of peaceful protesters.
Security forces deployed on the streets, included the special forces of Iran's police, paramilitary Basij and plain-clothes agents.
One of the videos verified by Amnesty International shows two women in Tehran lying injured and bleeding on the ground. In another video recorded nearby, a woman is seen lying on the ground in a pool of blood crying out in pain. The people helping them in the videos are heard saying they have been shot. Amnesty International has not been able to establish what type of ammunition was used to cause their injuries.
Another video shows a man with a bleeding head wound. Two X-rays obtained by Amnesty International clearly show pellets lodged in the knee joint of one protester and the ankle of another.
Amnesty International has also verified images of security forces carrying shotguns, but it is unclear what type of ammunition was loaded in them.
The organization has received messages from several injured protesters who shared photographs showing their wounds and said they did not seek hospital treatment to remove the pointed pellets that remain painfully lodged in their bodies, fearing arrest.
Security and intelligence forces are maintaining a heavy presence in some hospitals raising fears they plan to arrest patients. Amnesty International has also received information that security forces have tried to transfer some injured protesters to military hospitals. Some medical clinics and hospitals in Tehran have turned away injured people, telling them that, if the security and intelligence forces find out they were among the protesters, they will be arrested.
One man from Maali Abad in Shiraz, Fars province, who said he went to light a candle in solidarity with the plane crash victims on January 12, said security forces outnumbered the crowd and created a "terrifying and intimidating atmosphere to frighten people away".
"They were swearing at and beating everyone with batons all over their bodies, it didn't matter if they were just passing by. It didn't make any difference to them if they beat young or old, man or woman," he said, adding that security forces also fired tear gas into the crowd. He was injured but did not seek hospital treatment for fear of arrest.
Another eyewitness, Mahsa from Tehran, described how security forces fired tear gas into the entrance hall of a metro station to stop people leaving to join the protest.
"There was so much tear gas... I was so mentally stressed and anxious that I initially didn't even realize that I had been shot... The special forces of the police were firing pointed pellets at people. My coat is now filled with holes and I have bruises on my body... The streets were filled with armed plain-clothes agents firing shots into the air and threatening to shoot people... A member of the security forces chased me when they saw me filming the protest and that's when I was shot in the leg with a pointed pellet... I'm in a lot of pain," she said.
Mahsa added that the authorities had threatened doctors and that she had been turned away by three medical centers and even a veterinary clinic where she sought treatment. On January 14, she was told by a doctor in a hospital in Tehran that she had to leave the hospital immediately because, if the intelligence department (Herasat) of the hospital found out that she was among the protesters, she would be arrested.
"The situation in Iran right now is even more painful than death. They are killing us slowly; they are torturing us to death," she said.
In several videos taken inside Shademan metro station in Tehran, people are heard saying that security forces fired tear gas inside the station. Tear gas canisters are indiscriminate and can result in serious injury and even death, especially when used in an enclosed space. They should only ever be used in a targeted response to specific acts of violence and never to disperse peaceful protesters. They must also never be used in a confined space.
In many cases the actions by the security forces violated the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment under international law.
Arbitrary arrests
There are reports that scores of people, including university students, have been arrested in cities where protests have taken place, including Ahvaz in Khuzestan province; Esfahan, Esfahan province, Zanjan, Zanjan province; Amol and Babol, Mazandaran province; Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan province; Kermanshah, Kermanshah province; Sanandaj, Kurdistan province; Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan province; Shiraz, Fars province; Tabriz, East Azerbaijan province; and Tehran.
Amnesty International has received information that, in at least two cities, Amol and Tehran, the authorities are denying the families of some detainees information about their fate and whereabouts, amounting to the crime of enforced disappearance under international law.
The organization also received shocking allegations of sexual violence against at least one woman arbitrarily arrested by plain-clothes security agents and detained for several hours in a police station. According to an informed source, while in detention, the woman was taken to a room where she was questioned by a security official who forced her to perform oral sex on him and attempted to rape her.
"Iran's security forces have once again carried out a reprehensible attack on the rights of Iranian people to peaceful expression and assembly and resorted to unlawful and brutal tactics," said Philip Luther.
"The Iranian authorities must end the repression as a matter of urgency and ensure the security forces exercise maximum restraint and respect protesters' rights to peaceful expression and assembly. Detainees must be protected from torture and other ill-treatment and all those who have been arbitrarily detained must be released."
Background
The protests began on January 11 after the Iranian authorities admitted to having unintentionally shot down the Ukrainian plane, following three days of denials, at first attributing the plane crash to mechanical failure. The protests quickly expanded to include anti-establishment slogans and demands for transformation of the country's political system, including a constitutional referendum and an end to the Islamic Republic system.
These protests follow a bloody crackdown that saw more than 300 protesters killed and thousands arrested between November 15 and 18, 2019 when Iranian security forces resorted to lethal force. Amnesty International has called on member states of the UN Human Rights Council to hold a special session on Iran to mandate an inquiry into the unlawful killings of protesters, horrifying wave of arrests, enforced disappearances and torture of detainees, with a view to ensuring accountability.
This statement is available at: https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/scores-injured-as-security-forces-use-unlawful-force-to-crush-protests/
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
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Courts Have Ruled That ICE Illegally Jailed People More Than 4,400 Times in Less Than Five Months
In some cases, the administration has kept immigrants locked up even after a judge has ordered their release, according to an investigation by Reuters.
Feb 14, 2026
Judges across the country have ruled more than 4,400 times since the start of October that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has illegally detained immigrants, according to a Reuters investigation published Saturday.
As President Donald Trump carries out his unprecedented "mass deportation" crusade, the number of people in ICE custody ballooned to 68,000 this month, up 75% from when he took office.
Midway through 2025, the administration had begun pushing for a daily quota of 3,000 arrests per day, with the goal of reaching 1 million per year. This has led to the targeting of mostly people with no criminal records rather than the "worst of the worst," as the administration often claims.
Reuters' reporting suggests chasing this number has also resulted in a staggering number of arrests that judges have later found to be illegal.
Since the beginning of Trump's term, immigrants have filed more than 20,200 habeas corpus petitions, claiming they were held indefinitely without trial in violation of the Constitution.
In at least 4,421 cases, more than 400 federal judges have ruled that their detentions were illegal.
Last month, more than 6,000 habeas petitions were filed. Prior to the second Trump administration, no other month dating back to 2010 had seen even 500.
(Graphic by Reuters)
In part due to the sheer volume of legal challenges, the Trump administration has often failed to comply with court rulings, leaving people locked up even after judges ordered them to be released.
Reuters' new report is the most comprehensive examination to date of the administration's routine violation of the law with respect to immigration enforcement. But the extent to which federal immigration agencies have violated the law under Trump is hardly new information.
In a ruling last month, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the US District Court in Minnesota—a conservative jurist appointed by former President George W. Bush—provided a list of nearly 100 court orders ICE had violated just that month while deployed as part of Trump's Operation Metro Surge.
The report of ICE's systemic violation of the law comes as the agency faces heightened scrutiny on Capitol Hill, with leaders of the agency called to testify and Democrats attempting to hold up funding in order to force reforms to ICE's conduct, which resulted in a partial shutdown beginning Saturday.
Following the release of Reuters' report, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) directed a pointed question over social media to Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.
"Why do your out-of-control agents keep violating federal law?" he said. "I look forward to seeing you testify under oath at the House Judiciary Committee in early March."
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North Carolina Students Walk Over a Mile to Vote After GOP Shut Down Campus Polling Places
"Aggies do what is necessary for our rights, for our survival, and for our people,” said one student organizer at North Carolina A&T State University, the largest historically Black college in the nation.
Feb 14, 2026
As early voting began for the state primaries, North Carolina college students found themselves walking more than a mile to cast their ballots after the Republican-controlled State Board of Elections closed polling places on their campuses.
The board, which shifted to a 3-2 GOP majority, voted last month to close a polling site at Western Carolina University and to reject the creation of polling sites at two other colleges—the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC Greensboro), and the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T), the largest historically Black college in the nation. Each of these schools had polling places available on campus during the 2024 election.
The decision, which came just weeks before early voting was scheduled to begin, left many of the 40,000 students who attend these schools more than a mile away from the nearest polling place.
It was the latest of many efforts by North Carolina Republicans to restrict voting ahead of the 2026 midterms: They also cut polling place hours in dozens of counties and eliminated early voting on Sundays in some, which dealt a blow to "Souls to the Polls" efforts led by Black churches.
A lawsuit filed late last month by a group of students at the three schools said, “as a result, students who do not have access to private transportation must now walk that distance—which includes walking along a highway that lacks any pedestrian infrastructure—to exercise their right to vote.
The students argued that this violates their access to the ballot and to same-day registration, which is only available during the early voting period.
Last week, a federal judge rejected their demand to open the three polling centers. Jay Pavey, a Republican member of the Jackson County elections board, who voted to close the WCU polling site, dismissed fears that it would limit voting.
“If you really want to vote, you'll find a way to go one mile,” Pavey said.
Despite the hurdles, hundreds of students in the critical battleground state remained determined to cast a ballot as early voting opened.
On Friday, a video posted by the Smoky Mountain News showed dozens of students marching in a line from WCU "to their new polling place," at the Jackson County Recreation Center, "1.7 miles down a busy highway with no sidewalks."
The university and on-campus groups also organized shuttles to and from the polling place.
A similar scene was documented at NC A&T, where about 60 students marched to their nearest polling place at a courthouse more than 1.3 miles away.
The students described their march as a protest against the state's decision, which they viewed as an attempt to limit their power at the ballot box.
The campus is no stranger to standing up against injustice. February 1 marked the 66th anniversary of when four Black NC A&T students launched one of the most pivotal protests of the civil rights movement, sitting down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Greensboro—an act that sparked a wave of nonviolent civil disobedience across the South.
"Aggies do what is necessary for our rights, for our survival, and for our people,” Jae'lah Monet, one of the student organizers of the march, told Spectrum News 1.
Monet said she and other students will do what is necessary to get students to the polls safely and to demonstrate to the state board the importance of having a polling place on campus. She said several similar events will take place throughout the early voting period.
"We will be there all day, and we will all get a chance to vote," Monet said.
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DHS Partially Shuts Down, Setting Up Battle Over ICE Accountability in Coming Weeks
"We need massive reforms in DHS with real accountability before we send another dime their way," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
Feb 14, 2026
The US Department of Homeland Security partially shut down on Saturday at midnight after Congress failed to reach an agreement to reform its immigration agencies, which have faced mounting scrutiny after the killings of multiple US citizens and rampant civil rights violations.
A shutdown was virtually assured when lawmakers left town for a recess on Thursday without a deal that included Democrats' key demands to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Sixty votes are needed to pass any deal through the Senate, meaning seven Democrats would need to join every Republican to break the stalemate.
Democrats have demanded that agents around the nation wear body cameras, carry identification, and stop hiding their identities with masks. They said agents must adhere to the Constitution by obtaining judicial warrants before entering private property and ending the use of racial profiling.
Senate Republicans on Thursday attempted to pass another short-term funding measure that would keep the agency running while negotiations play out. But without adopting any of the Democrats' reforms, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said his party would "not support a blank check for chaos."
The bill was voted down 47-52, with only one Democrat, the ICE-defending Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voting in support.
The lapse in funding comes amid a whirlwind of scandals surrounding DHS, most notably the fatal shootings in Minneapolis of two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, last month. DHS officials, including Secretary Kristi Noem, immediately leapt to justify the killings in contradiction to video evidence, which smeared the victims as "domestic terrorists" before any investigation took place.
Earlier this week, unsealed body camera footage showed definitively that the agency also lied about the shooting of 30-year-old US citizen Marimar Martinez in Chicago in October.
On Friday, it was reported that two ICE agents are under investigation for making false statements about the events leading up to yet another shooting of a Venezuelan national, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, in Minnesota last month.
In a rare acknowledgement of wrongdoing by his agency, ICE's acting director, Todd Lyons, said on Friday that the agents appear “to have made untruthful statements” about what led to his shooting.
An explosive Wall Street Journal report also recently put Noem further under the microscope, revealing an alleged romantic relationship with top Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski, who insiders said has been put in charge of the agency's contracting despite being only a temporary "special government employee" and has reportedly doled out contracts in an "opaque and arbitrary manner."
The DHS shutdown will not affect funding for immigration agencies, since both ICE and CBP received more than $70 billion from Congress last summer as part of the GOP's massive tax and spending bill.
Their activities are expected to continue normally during the shutdown. But other functions of the agency may see delays and funding lapses.
While most Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees are considered essential and expected to stay on the job, more may begin to stay home if the shutdown drags on and they miss paychecks. Some Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding for states' disaster recovery may also be delayed as a result of the shutdown, and employees may be furloughed, slowing the process.
Congress is expected to reconvene on February 23 after a weeklong recess, but may return earlier if a deal is reached during the break.
Democrats have appeared largely united on holding out unless significant reforms are achieved, though party leaders—Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have faced a crisis of confidence within their own caucus, as they've appeared willing to taper back some demands—including masking requirements—in order to find a compromise.
As the clock inched toward midnight on Friday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair emerita of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, emphasized the existential stakes of the fight ahead.
"If the government shuts down, it will be because Republicans refuse to hold DHS and their deplorable actions accountable," she said. "The reality is if we start to erode the rights of some, we start to erode the rights of all—and I will not stand for it. We need massive reforms in DHS with real accountability before we send another dime their way."
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