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The 71-page “We are ordered to crush you”: Expanding Repression of Dissent in Iran details how, in the wake of protests called by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi in February 2011, the Iranian authorities have steadily cranked up repression of dissent in law and practice, launching a wave of arrests in recent months.

Amnesty International said the continuing crackdown laid bare the hollowness of Iran’s claims to support protests in the Middle East and North Africa.

“In Iran today you put yourself at risk if you do anything that might fall outside the increasingly narrow confines of what the authorities deem socially or politically acceptable,” said Ann Harrison, Interim Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“Anything from setting up a social group on the internet, forming or joining an NGO, or expressing your opposition to the status quo can land you in prison.”

“This dreadful record really highlights the hypocrisy of the Iranian government's attempts to show solidarity with protesters in Egypt, Bahrain and other countries in the region.”

The report finds that in recent months a wave of arrests has targeted a range of groups, including lawyers, students, journalists, political activists and their relatives, religious and ethnic minorities, filmmakers,... >>>