The United Nations has called on Iranian authorities to immediately end what it described as brutal repression following a nationwide crackdown on protests that has left thousands dead, including children.
Speaking on Friday at an urgent session of the UN Human Rights Council devoted to the situation in Iran, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said he was deeply alarmed by the way security forces had crushed recent demonstrations. He said protesters had been met with live ammunition and excessive force.
Turk told the council that thousands of people were believed to have been killed, with reports indicating that peaceful demonstrators died in streets, residential neighbourhoods, universities and even medical facilities. He added that bodies examined in morgues showed fatal injuries to the head and chest.
He urged Iranian authorities to pull back and end the repression, including what he described as summary trials and disproportionate sentences. Turk also called for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained and demanded a complete moratorium on the death penalty.
His remarks were echoed by several delegations during the special session, which was requested by Britain, Germany, Iceland, Moldova and North Macedonia and received broad international backing.
Iceland’s foreign minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir told the council that when a government itself becomes the perpetrator of violations, the international community has a responsibility to act. She said the council and the world could not look away and that violence against peaceful protesters and mass killings must stop.
The 47 member Human Rights Council was debating a draft resolution expressing deep concern over what it described as the unprecedented scale of the violent crackdown by Iranian security forces. Monitoring efforts by the UN and rights groups have been hampered by a two week internet shutdown imposed during the unrest.
Iranian authorities released their first official death toll on Wednesday, stating that 3,117 people had been killed since the protests erupted in late December. However, the United States based Human Rights Activists News Agency said on Friday that the number of deaths exceeded 5,000 and warned that confirmed figures were likely far lower than the actual toll. Another organisation, Iran Human Rights, has cautioned that the final number of deaths could reach as high as 25,000.
Although the protests have largely subsided, Turk warned that the brutality had not ended. He said he was disturbed by statements from Iran’s judiciary chief indicating there would be no leniency for the thousands of people detained. Turk also expressed concern over conflicting signals from Iranian officials on whether detainees connected to the protests could face execution.
He noted that Iran remains among the world’s leading executioner states, with at least 1,500 people reportedly executed last year. Britain’s human rights ambassador Eleanor Sanders also condemned Iran’s use of the death penalty, saying that on average around six people are executed each day. She and other representatives called for Iranian authorities to be held accountable for the deadly crackdown.
The draft resolution under discussion would extend for two years the mandate of an independent fact finding mission on Iran that was established in November 2022 after an earlier wave of protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. It would also allow the body to investigate allegations of recent and ongoing serious human rights violations and crimes linked to the protests.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, rejected the meeting, calling it political posturing and a pressure tool against his country. He said Iran did not recognise the legitimacy of the special session or any resolution adopted from it.
Several countries voiced support for Iran, arguing that the session was politicised and reflected double standards. China’s ambassador Jia Guide said Beijing opposed interference in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of human rights.
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