On the third anniversary of the nationwide protests of December 2017 and January 2018 in Iran, Amnesty International released a statement once again calling for justice for the “dozens of protesters, including children,” who were killed by the security forces of the Islamic Republic across the country.

Amnesty International’s statement on Wednesday declared that the organization also stands in solidarity with those seeking truth and accountability for the thousands of protesters who were arbitrarily detained, tortured, or received other ill-treatments in prison, or died in custody in suspicious circumstances and those who were subsequently sentenced to death or executed following grossly unfair trials.

In late December of 2017, protests against inflation and high prices began in Mashhad and quickly spread to other cities, immediately turning into an anti-regime uprising that spread across the country in over 100 cities and towns.

The statement continues: “Three years on from the deadly crackdown, the Iranian authorities have refused to open even a single criminal investigation into the litany of crimes and human rights violations committed by Iran’s security forces both during the protests and in their aftermath, including unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment, and grossly unfair trials leading to the execution of at least one protester and death sentences for several others.”

“Instead, consistent with longstanding patterns of state cover-up and denial, the authorities have subjected victims’ families to intimidation and harassment to prevent them from speaking out,” Amnesty states.

After three years, there is still no information on the number of the killed protesters and none of the Islamic Republic officials have taken responsibility for killing dozens of protesters.

According to Amnesty, the prevailing impunity afforded to the security forces and the muted response of the international community has only emboldened the Iranian authorities to escalate their unlawful use of lethal force in the subsequent mass protests of November 2019.

In November of 2019, another country-wide uprising was ignited in 30 provinces by the government’s announcement of the decision to triple the price of gasoline.

At the time, Reuters reported Ali Khamenei’s restlessness in a meeting with senior security officials, in which he asked them to stop the mass protests “by any means necessary.” There are names of 28 children and teenagers under 18 years of age among the identified victims.

Amnesty made a plea to the international community to stop the Islamic Republic’s “cycle of bloodshed” by applying pressure to Iran.

“It falls on the international community to pressure the Iranian authorities to stop the recurrent pattern of using lethal force to crush protests, including by the UN Human Rights Council establishing an independent international investigation into the protests of November 2019 when the crackdown reached an unprecedented level since the 1980s.”