In text messages reviewed by Amnesty, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was seen issuing direct warnings that those attempting to break through the regime’s internet restrictions could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act, the punishment for which is often the death penalty. These threats were issued under the framing that ordinary online activity was a threat to national security.
The IRGC was reported to have sent messages to individuals identified as having circumvented internet restrictions, and referenced their individual IP addresses, VPN, or satellite internet use.
The IRGC also threatened that individuals who continued to circumvent the restrictions could have their cell phone services and SIM cards blocked, and be referred to judicial authorities, and explicitly warned that any link to “hostile states” or the “Zionist regime” would result in prosecution under the Espionage Law.
Under Article 508 of the Islamic Penal Code, any individual or group who cooperates with "hostile states" against the Islamic Republic of Iran, if not recognized as a Mohareb (waging war against God), can be sentenced to one to 10 years of imprisonment.
The 2020 Law on Countering Hostile Actions of the Zionist Regime against Peace and Security can lead to the death penalty if the individual is prosecuted for intelligence sharing or a 5 to 10 year sentence and a permanent lifetime ban from holding any public or government sector positions if the individual was connected to Israelis on any diplomatic or informal level.
Amnesty was able to review 11 instances of such messages being sent to Iranian civilians, including eight warning that photographing areas damaged in airstrikes and sharing such content either online or with the media would be deemed as “collaborating with the enemy” and would have legal consequences.
The report comes only a week after the Islamic Republic seemingly ended its internet blackout after an almost three-month cut off, though numerous human rights organizations have warned that significant restrictions remain.
“Iranian authorities are exploiting the crisis to further erode the human rights of people in Iran who are already suffering from the devastating consequences of unlawful air strikes by US and Israeli forces, as well as decades of crimes under international law at the hands of the Islamic Republic,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director of Research, Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns at Amnesty International.
“To maintain their grip on power, the authorities have unleashed an all-out assault on people in Iran, targeting anyone who dares to criticize the Islamic Republic, share information about the US or Israeli air strikes or human rights violations with the outside world, or simply attempt to break through what became the longest recorded internet shutdown to communicate with loved ones or access independent information,” he added.
Islamic regime continues with arbitrary arrests
In addition to threats against those accessing restricted online spaces, the Amnesty International report also noted that the regime arbitrarily arrested thousands of people, including children, under the cover of national security.
Iran’s police chief, Ahmadreza Radan, announced last month that more than 6,500 “traitors and spies” have been arrested since 28 February 2026 and confirmed the ongoing arrest of individuals said to be involved in the January demonstrations.
Lawyers representing individuals charged in politically motivated cases, such as Amir Raisian and Milad Panahipour, who were both arrested on 29 April 2026, have been charged with crimes such as “spreading lies” and “spreading propaganda against the system” for publicly raising due process concerns. Panahipour and Raisan had both warned of abnormalities in the case of their client, 18-year-old Ehsan Hosseinipour Hesarloo, who is understood to be at risk of execution.
Human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was arbitrarily arrested in Tehran on 1 April 2026 and disappeared for around six weeks, was released by authorities on bail in May, despite the regime officials initially denying her family knowledge of her whereabouts, an informed source claimed.
In one case, the NGO reported that a sibling of a human rights worker had been forcibly disappeared as a means to pressure his brother to end an investigation.
Amnesty warned that those who were disappeared also face increase risk of torture and ill-treatment in detention. Numerous suspicious deaths have also been reported in custody, as was the case for Hesam Alaeddin, who died in detention after seeking information on his brother, who was arrested for possession of a Starlink device.
The regime has also used the guise of wartime security needs as an excuse to seize the private property of more than 750 people since March, when it introduced the digital system called “Saham” to identify “terrorist and mercenary agents affiliated with the Zionist enemy and other hostile countries.
The regime authorities have also escalated their use of the death penalty as a tool of political oppression, expediting judicial proceedings and carrying out the killings of those who confessed under the duress of torture.
“The international community must not allow the Iranian authorities to use the conflict as a smokescreen to deepen their machinery of repression and carry out crimes under international law with impunity. Iran’s human rights and impunity crisis requires urgent and sustained diplomatic international action to prevent further atrocity crimes by the authorities, as well as establishing pathways for international justice, including through the UN Security Council’s referral of Iran’s situation to the International Criminal Court,” said Rosas.
Source: JPost, Danielle Greyamn-Kennard, June 1, 2026
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
Death Penalty News
For a World without the Death Penalty