EXCLUSIVE: More than 100 Personalities Urge IRGC Terror Listing, Visa Bans After Iran Protest Killings

February 16, 2026

Demonstration calling for a free Iran, in Munich — Protesters attend a demonstration organised by The Munich Circle calling for a free Iran, during the Munich Security Conference (MSC), in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2026. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen

By Kayhan Life Staff

More than 100 international lawyers and public figures have released an open letter, a copy of which was provided exclusively to Kayhan Life, urging immediate global action after what they describe as mass killings, arbitrary arrests, and executions of peaceful protesters in Iran.

Dated Feb. 13, 2026, the letter urges Western governments and institutions to publicly condemn the crackdown, support evidence preservation and independent investigations, and take action against officials and security forces of the Islamic Republic. The suggested actions include sanctioning the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group, imposing coordinated visa bans and asset freezes to prevent safe havens for alleged offenders, and pursuing investigations and prosecutions under universal-jurisdiction laws to stop “impunity-by-flight.”

The letter’s main legal argument is that the acts of violence now qualify as the most serious international crimes. It refers to earlier U.N. findings about Iran’s response to the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests after Mahsa Jina Amini died in custody. In March 2024, U.N. investigators and major news agencies reported that a fact-finding mission found Iran responsible for Amini’s unlawful death and documented serious abuses during the crackdown. The mission said these findings could amount to crimes against humanity.

The signatories say the current crackdown follows the same pattern and also qualifies as crimes against humanity. This wording shows the international community’s growing focus on collecting evidence, documenting abuses, and preparing for future prosecutions.

OPEN LETTER

CONDEMNATION OF MASS KILLINGS OF CIVIL PROTESTORS IN IRAN

We, the undersigned—lawyers and members of the legal profession, together with public figures, of Iranian nationality or origin as well as of other nationalities—write with urgency and deep alarm, on behalf of those in Iran who cannot.

Across Iran, peaceful protesters, who have sought to exercise nothing more than their rights to free speech and dignified self-determination, including their inviolable right to express their exasperation at the now systemic economic collapse of the country which prevents the Iranian people from accessing their simplest needs (while, reportedly, billions of dollars are being siphoned off by those in power and their associates on a daily basis), have been met with lethal force, mass arrests, systematic killings on a wide scale, and an escalating information blackout.

Even if scarce, the news coming out of Iran indicates that the death toll following the regime’s violent crackdown over the past weeks is in the tens of thousands, mostly young persons, with even more unlawfully detained. The detainees’ whereabouts are not disclosed and executions have been reported to have taken place without any trials.

At the same time, the Iranian regime has shut down its citizens’ access to the internet and, resultantly, the outside world. On 10 January 2026, the United Nations’ Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran called for the immediate restoration of internet access and mobile connectivity and to halt the violent crackdown of the ongoing protest. Its call has been ignored by the Islamic Republic.

State violence against protesters by the Islamic Republic has already reached the threshold of the gravest international crimes. In 2024, the UN Fact-Finding Mission stated that serious violations committed during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests may amount to crimes against humanity. The current bloodshed by the Islamic Republic and its systematic killing of innocent protesters equally qualifies for that crime. On 23 January 2026, the UN Human Rights Council adopted at a special session on the deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a resolution in which it extended the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran for two years, and the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran for one year. The resolution also called for an urgent investigation by the Fact-Finding Mission, in the context of the repression of nationwide protests beginning 28 December 2025.

Given the severity of the atrocities perpetrated by the Iranian authorities against the people of Iran, we call on the Governments, institutions and people of the world to act immediately by:

Publicly and unequivocally condemning the killing and unlawful detention of peaceful protesters, and to demand an immediate end to the use of live ammunition, arbitrary arrests, torture, and executions.
Supporting independent investigations and evidence preservation, including cooperation with the UN Fact-Finding Mission and other accountability mechanisms.
Sanctioning the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) as a terrorist organization.
Ending safe haven for those implicated in serious human rights violations through coordinated visa bans, robust immigration screening, and asset freezes targeting senior officials, police and military forces, judges, prosecutors, prison authorities, and others responsible for ordering, enabling, or committing human rights violations.
Refusing impunity-by-flight. Where alleged perpetrators seek entry to or are present in a territory, investigate them; and where evidence supports it, prosecute them under applicable domestic law, including through universal jurisdiction frameworks where available.

We will not remain silent while Iranians are being killed for demanding dignity and freedom. Those responsible must understand that accountability will follow – and that the world will not provide a back door for them to escape it.

The views expressed are personal and do not reflect the views of the individuals’ law firms, employers, or clients (where applicable).

February 2026

Signed: (appearing in alphabetical order)