Witness Alavi, a member of Iran International’s editorial team, said one of the most important dimensions of Amnesty International’s new report is that it does not consider responsibility for the crackdown to rest only with forces present in the field, but also documents the responsibility of officials in the chain of command, including governors and local and provincial authorities, in relation to the accusation of crimes against humanity.

He emphasized that many of these individuals are local officials and perhaps, before entering the power structure, had been teachers, clerks, or engineers; however, this report shows that presence in the chain of decision-making and implementing the crackdown can create legal responsibility, and that one can no longer evade accountability with the argument that “they did not directly kill anyone or were not security officers.”