Silence Is Complicity in Crimes Against the Iranian People
To:
Western Governments
The United Nations
The European Union
This letter is addressed to Western governments, the United Nations, and the European Union, institutions that have chosen silence while atrocities are being committed in Iran, and that have deliberately closed their eyes to the Islamic regime’s systematic and brutal crackdown on the Iranian people.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is carrying out a campaign of terror against the Iranian people. The following are documented facts from only the past ten days of the current protests — facts, not allegations.
- Mass arrests are being carried out by IRGC forces. Hundreds of people, including individuals who did not participate in protests, have been detained and are being held in unknown locations.
- More than 150 detainees are children.
- At least 30 protesters including children, have been killed by IRGC forces.
- IRGC forces attacked a hospital in the city of Ilam to abduct injured protesters and to seize the bodies of those killed.
- IRGC security forces fired tear gas inside Sina Hospital in Tehran, endangering patients, medical staff, and civilians.
- Female detainees in Yazd were threatened with rape.
- Mourners and families were attacked by security forces for attending the funerals of their loved ones.
- Families demanding information about the whereabouts of detained relatives have been harassed and assaulted.
- Civil activists and justice-seeking families have been threatened by the IRGC and warned not to participate in protests.
These are only some of the crimes currently being committed. The protests, and the brutal crackdown, are ongoing.
One would expect that such facts would compel Western governments, the UN, and the EU to take immediate and concrete action to pressure the regime in Iran to stop these atrocities. Instead, the response has been weak, performative, and shamefully inadequate.
On 5 January 2026, UN Secretary-General António Guterres merely called on the authorities in Iran “to uphold the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”
The European External Action Service issued a similarly hollow statement urging respect for fundamental freedoms and the release of those arrested for peacefully exercising their rights.
These statements amount to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Even more disturbing, none of the EU member states has issued a strong, unequivocal condemnation of the regime’s actions.
The nationwide protests in Iran, which began on 27 December 2025, have now spread to at least 85 cities. The Iranian people are protesting against crushing inflation and poverty, repression, and the dictatorship of the Islamic regime. This movement is a continuation of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising of 2022, sparked by the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in custody. The demands for dignity, freedom, and justice have not disappeared, they have intensified.
The Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI) calls on Western governments, the United Nations, and the European Union to:
- Take concrete and meaningful action to pressure the regime in Iran
- Recall ambassadors from Iran
- Demand the immediate release of all detainees and political prisoners
- Pressure the regime to halt the violent crackdown
- Hold the Islamic regime accountable for committing crimes against humanity
Your continued inaction does not constitute neutrality. It constitutes complicity.
The lack of decisive action by EU governments and international institutions emboldens the regime in Iran to continue its atrocities. History will remember not only those who committed these crimes, but also those who stood by and did nothing.
Silence is no longer an option.
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
For More Information and Media Inquiries:
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
🌐 www.cfppi.org
Shiva Mahbobi
Spokeswoman
📧 shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com
📞 +44 7572 356666