Amnesty International says in its detailed report on the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising that in the Islamic Republic, the exemption of those ordering the crackdown from punishment is not accidental, but is built into the law itself.

The law allows the shooting at protesters, exempts officers from criminal responsibility, and assigns the investigation of their crimes to military courts, which in most cases result in a full acquittal.

Amnesty International has reviewed 10 judicial cases. In these cases, either the case was closed on the claim of “lack of evidence,” or it ended in compensation (diyah), or the issued sentence was overturned and reduced through the intervention of senior officials. According to the UN fact-finding body, over the past 45 years, no senior official in Iran has been held accountable. It is precisely this impunity that keeps the cycle of repression alive.