Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned a report released by UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman, which calls for an international investigation into alleged atrocity crimes committed in Iran during the 1980s. The report, published on Monday, details mass arrests and killings, and asserts that these events constitute crimes against humanity including murder, genocide, and torture. Rehman emphasized that these crimes involved tens of thousands of political rivals between 1981 and 1982 and approximately 5,000 political prisoners executed in 1988, some of whom were nearing release.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani criticized the report, asserting that it lacks “any legal basis” and amounts to “false news”. Kanaani accused Rehman of abusing his position at the UN and following the agenda of the dissident group Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO). He stressed that the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has a responsibility to prevent such bias and misuse of position by its members. Kanaani affirmed that Iran would continue its progress and assert its right to oppose what he described as a “wrongful process” at the UN (link).
Rehman’s report also touched on more recent events, such as the violent suppression of protests in November 2019 and during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement following the death of Mahsa Amini, where more than 500 people were killed by security forces. The report highlights that victims of the crackdown were subjected to torture, sexual assault, and other forms of ill-treatment. Additionally, Rehman stated that nine men were executed in January 2024 without fair trial or due process in relation to these protests (link).
Rehman argued that the push for justice by victims and survivors is not new but rooted in systemic abuses dating back to the 1980s. He called for international accountability mechanisms to prosecute those responsible and stressed the UN’s role in delivering justice and accountability (link). A supporting report from the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran earlier this year backed these findings, evidencing crimes against humanity during the 2022 protests (link).
For further details, the full text of the original report is available here.