The state of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been criticized by Iranians and international human right activists, by writers, and NGOs. The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission have condemned prior and ongoing abuses in Iran in published critiques and several resolutions. The government is criticized both for restrictions and punishments that follow the Islamic Republic's constitution and law, and for "extrajudicial" actions by state actors, such as the torture, rape, and killing of political prisoners, and the beatings and killings of dissidents and other civilians. Capital punishment in Iran remains a matter of international concern.
As of 2019, issues of concern presented by Amnesty International include the use of lethal force, killing over 300, to unlawfully crush November protests, arbitrary detention of thousands of protesters; sentences of imprisonment and flogging for over 200 human rights defenders; entrenched discrimination, torture and other ill-treatment for ethnic and religious minorities; a crackdown on women's campaigning against forced veiling laws.
An ongoing series of protests and civil unrest against the government of Iran began in Tehran on 16 September 2022 as a reaction to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini (Persian: مهسا امینی), who had been arrested by the Guidance Patrol for wearing an "improper" hijab — in violation of Iran's mandatory hijab law — while visiting Tehran from Saqqez. According to eyewitnesses, Amini had been severely beaten by Guidance Patrol officers, an assertion denied by Iranian authorities.

The protests quickly spread from Amini's hometown of Saqqez to other cities in the province of Kurdistan and to other provinces within Iran. In response to these demonstrations, beginning on 19 September the Iranian government implemented regional shutdowns of Internet access. As protests grew, a widespread Internet blackout was imposed along with nationwide restrictions on social media. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the widespread unrest not only as "riots" but also as an "hybrid war" caused by foreign states and dissidents abroad. Women, including schoolchildren, played a key role in the demonstrations. Whereas earlier major protests, which were violently quelled by the Iranian government, focused on election results or economic woes, the 2022 protests, besides increased rights for women, had one main demand: the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The protests were the biggest threat to the government since the 1979 Islamic revolution, according to The Guardian.[23] Unlike the 2019–2020 protests, the 2022 protests were "nationwide, spread across social classes, universities, the streets [and] schools". According to the non-profit organization Iran Human Rights, as of 16 November 2022 at least 342 people including 43 children[8] had been killed as a result of the government's intervention in the protests, involving tear gas and gunfire, making the protests the deadliest since the 2019–2020 protests that resulted in more than 1,500 fatalities. This response to the protests was widely condemned. In addition, the regime of the Islamic Republic has started infanticide.