Two years after the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini and the emergence of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, victims and survivors have yet to see justice for the atrocity crimes and human rights violations committed against them. In response to this accountability gap, a coalition of open source investigation experts and human rights groups came together to preserve, verify and analyze vulnerable digital artifacts recording serious human rights violations committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran against protesters. The work of the Iran Digital Archive Coalition has contributed to the preservation of over two million pieces of content housed at Mnemonic, the investigation and findings of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, and has published reports verifying digital content indicating the commission of several different violations, including enforced disappearance and gender persecution.
In light of this work, the Iran Digital Archive Coalition hosted an event at UCLA's Promise Institute for Human Rights to discuss ongoing efforts and the pathway forward to achieve accountability for human rights violations carried out during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. The event began with a brief introduction to the Iran Digital Archive Coalition, followed by a conversation with Afsoon Najafi, sister of Hadis Najafi who was shot and killed by Islamic Republic of Iran security forces during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. Representatives of the Iran Digital Archive Coalition then participated on a panel to present the findings of each of their organization’s reports on recent human rights abuses. Following a short break, we were joined by Elahe Tavakolian, who took to the streets during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests and was shot and blinded by Islamic Republic security forces. Finally, the event concluded with a conversation between Sara Hossain, Chair of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran and Actor and Activist, Nazanin Boniadi.
