UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran’s Repression of Protests: Sexual Violence, Executions

A photo posted on social media shows people making their way towards Mahsa Amini's grave in Saqqez [AFP]

The violent repression of peaceful protests and discrimination against women and girls by Tehran led to serious rights violations, many amounting to crimes against humanity, a UN experts probe said Friday.
Iran was rocked by widespread demonstrations sparked by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women.
Anger over her death rapidly expanded into weeks of taboo-breaking protests which saw women tearing off their mandatory headscarves in an open challenge to Iran’s system of government under supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
The UN Human Rights Council held a special session on the situation in November 2022 and voted to create a high-level investigation into the deadly crackdown.
In its first report, the independent international fact-finding mission on Iran said many of the violations "amount to crimes against humanity, specifically those of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts."
According to Sara Hossain, chairperson of the three-member mission, "These acts form part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Iran, namely against women, girls, boys and men who have demanded freedom, equality, dignity, and accountability."
Rather than conducting a proper investigation into Amini's death, Tehran "actively obfuscated the truth," the mission said.
The mission said people "who merely danced" or honked car horns were arrested in the crackdown on protests, while hundreds of children, some as young as 10, were also detained.
The mission found the Iranian security forces used unnecessary and disproportionate force, resulting in the unlawful killing and injuries of protesters who posed no imminent threat of death or serious injury.
Scores of people were blinded, the mission added, saying it also found evidence of extrajudicial killings.
The mission also found Tehran had arbitrarily executed at least nine young men from December 2022 to January 2024, while dozens remain at risk of execution or a death sentence about the protests.
Credible figures suggest that as many as 551 protesters were killed by the security forces, among them at least 49 women and 68 children, the mission said, with most deaths caused by firearms.
The report concluded that "Pervasive and deep-rooted structural and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls ... was both a trigger and an enabler of the widespread serious human rights violations and crimes under international law."
The mission urges the Iranian authorities to halt all executions and immediately and unconditionally release all persons arbitrarily arrested and detained in the context of the protests or for noncompliance with or advocacy against the mandatory hijab.
It also asked Iran to stop the judicial harassment of protesters and their families, repeal laws that discriminate against women, "in particular those on the mandatory hijab," and disband the "persecutory system" of its enforcement.
The mission said countries should explore avenues for legal accountability outside Iran, given the absence of effective remedies within the country.
Other states should also grant asylum and humanitarian visas to people fleeing persecution for defending rights in Iran.
The report comes days after Iran held the first parliamentary election since 2022's nationwide protests against the government. The election saw the lowest turnout, perhaps reflecting a rising loss of confidence in Iranian institutions.