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Conference in Geneva highlights human rights abuses and executions in Iran— September 30, 2025
On September 29, 2025, the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva recently served as the crucial venue for a high-level conference convened during the 60th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. The theme of the gathering was grim but urgent: examining the escalating state of human rights violations in Iran, focusing specifically on the dramatic spike in executions, the brutal suppression of dissent, and the systemic impunity surrounding past crimes, particularly the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
Maryam Rajavi: End Impunity, Defend Protesters, and Recognize the Fight for Freedom
In a keynote address delivered via video message, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), presented a chilling statistical account of the recent wave of state-sponsored killings, asserting that the regime’s campaign of repression is deliberate and focused on maintaining fear.
Mrs. Rajavi detailed that since early July, “at least 450 people have been executed in less than three months.” She noted the devastating overall toll: “In the past 14 months, 1,850 people—including 59 women—have been executed.” She pointed out that this lethal campaign is primarily directed at dissenters, especially members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Mrs. Rajavi highlighted the legal framework for murder used by the regime, noting that a regime expert recently declared in a Tehran court trying PMOI members that every condition needed to prove the charge of bagh-ye (rebellion against the regime) applies to the PMOI, stating that the punishment for bagh-ye is “death, without exception.” Two prisoners, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, were executed in July on charges including membership in this organization, while fourteen others currently face the same imminent fate.
Inside prisons 87 weeks have passed with the campaign of “No to Execution Tuesdays.” In this campaign prisoners in 52 prisons stage hunger strikes every Tuesday.
Some one and a half to two million people are arrested in Iran every year.#StopExecutionsInIran… pic.twitter.com/e9GiFapjaL
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) September 30, 2025
She emphasized that the regime’s violence extends beyond executions and imprisonment, citing the denial of basic medical care to prisoners—a violation that has led to deaths—and the particularly egregious conditions for women in facilities like Qarchak Prison. The culture of impunity is deeply rooted, she stressed, citing how state-controlled media openly calls for repeating the major crimes of the past, including the 1988 massacre, which the UN has described as both genocide and a crime against humanity.
Mrs. Rajavi called for decisive international action, emphasizing that: “The crimes of the early 1980s—especially the 1988 massacre—remain unpunished and are now being repeated in Iran’s prisons and streets.”
She demanded that governments and UN bodies “must end this unjustified impunity,” supporting the call by the UN Special Rapporteur for states to “use universal jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for Khamenei and other officials responsible for these atrocities.” Concluding her address, Mrs. Rajavi linked the domestic struggle to global stability: “The Iranian people’s struggle for freedom is also a struggle for peace in the region and the world. It is upon the international community to stand with them and to recognize their fight for freedom, justice, and human rights.”
At @UNGeneva side event, MPs, dignitaries, and Iranians inc. Maryam Rajavi exposed the regime’s record-breaking executions and systemic repression. Speakers urged urgent international action and accountability, echoing calls to end impunity. #HRC60 https://t.co/Z833kXz7yP pic.twitter.com/Z2lrhoX4Nf
— Maryam Fakhar (@MaryamSFakhar) October 3, 2025
Tahar Boumedra: The Death Penalty as a Means of Governance
Tahar Boumedra, President of the Justice for Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI), drew attention to the proximity of the conference to the World Day for the Death Penalty and the regime’s persistent refusal to comply with international standards. He recalled that in 2007, the Iranian representative expressly refused to abide by UN resolution 62/147, which called for a moratorium on the death penalty.
Mr. Boumedra noted that this refusal not only rejected abolition and a moratorium but also rejected “all safeguards against the implementation of death penalty,” making it a serious reservation. He observed that the consequences are visible today in the dramatic increase in executions, as reported by Mrs. Rajavi, Amnesty International, and the UN Special Rapporteur, Madam Mai Sato. The death penalty in Iran, he asserted, is used “as a means of governance” and a means of persecuting any opposition.
He stressed that being in political opposition “is not a crime. But in Iran, being in the opposition, it’s worth a death penalty.” He joined calls to the Special Rapporteur to focus attention on how people are treated during arrest and detention, noting that Iran, despite being a party to instruments like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, violates fundamental safeguards.
Mr. Boumedra highlighted that the presumption of innocence is implemented in Iran as a “presumption of guilt,” often denying arrested individuals access to a lawyer or time to prepare a defense, which “makes the implementation of death penalty as an extrajudicial killing.” He pointed to the summary nature of the 1988 massacre trials, where prisoners were often heard for “two, three minutes,” judged solely on their loyalty to the People’s Mojahedin Khalq (PMOI/MEK). He concluded by reading defiance chants from Evin prison, illustrating the resilience of the Resistance: “They are saying to defy that penalty, we sacrifice our lives, but we will not abandon freedom. We sworn by the blood of our companions, We shall stand firm until the very end.”
Activités intenses des défenseurs des Droits Humains : side event à @ONUGeneve Experts, ONG & Parlementaires🇨🇭 ont dénoncés les exécutions massives en #Iran en présence d’une 20aine de délégations d’Etats membres.#HRC60 @Francelibertes @KarimiFarideh @FehlmannRielle… pic.twitter.com/AyRS4F25Te
— Behzad Naziri (@BehzadNaziri) October 2, 2025
Ingrid Betancourt: The Mother Case of Human Rights Violation
Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian Senator and Presidential Candidate, began by saluting the courage of the witnesses and the necessity of international responsibility in defending human rights. She observed that since the “moderate head of state,” Masoud Pezeshkian, assumed office, “nearly 2,000 people have been executed. The real number may be even higher.”
Ms. Betancourt emphasized the specific targeting of the Iranian Resistance, citing the execution of two young PMOI members, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hasani, whose “only crime was that they supported freedom and that they were affiliated with a democratic opposition movement.” She shared their final, defiant words, demonstrating the unwavering resolve of the PMOI. Mehdi Hasani, she quoted, affirmed: “I proudly declare that I am very happy to give my life for the freedom of my homeland and the noble people of Iran. The regime’s murderous judges can only dream that I would retreat even 1% from my position.”
She reiterated that these are not isolated incidents, noting that 14 other MEK supporters remain on death row, condemned solely for their affiliation. The objective of the regime, she argued, “is clear, to terrorize civilians, break the spirit of those who call for democracy, preempt protests, and eliminate those who dare to challenge its rule.”
A UN conference in Geneva highlighted Iran’s rising mass executions & lack of int’l accountability.@Maryam_Rajavi reiterated the call for an arrest warrant for Khamenei, stressing that democracy in Iran affects peace & stability in Middle East &the worldhttps://t.co/XTqOJtlPLB
— Safora Sadidi (@SaforaSM) October 1, 2025
Ms. Betancourt sharply criticized the UN human rights system for being “hesitant to address their plight,” calling this silence “unacceptable.” She urged UN High Commissioner Volker Turck to treat the rising wave of executions as a priority and demanded that UN Special Rapporteur Mai Sato “to break this silence, to act firmly and impartially in accordance with her mandate.”
Highlighting the gravity of past crimes, Ms. Betancourt urged Mai Sato to follow up on the investigation conducted by her predecessor, who concluded that the 1988 massacre “constituted an act of genocide.” She underscored that this is not a matter of the past, as Iranian officials “openly glorify the 1988 massacre as a positive and successful experience, and they call for it to be repeated. This is a chilling declaration of criminal intent.”
Calling for concrete action over mere words of condemnation, she issued a strong policy recommendation: “I therefore call upon the member states of this council to table a resolution mandating an international investigation into the ongoing executions in Iran and into the 1988 massacre.” This resolution, she insisted, must pursue accountability at all levels of responsibility, securing justice for the Iranian people. She concluded by stating, “The Iranian case today is the mother case of human rights violation in the world, setting a dangerous precedent that emboldens dictatorships elsewhere.”
The Iranian people’s struggle for freedom is also a struggle for peace in the region and the world. It is upon the international community to stand with them and to recognize their fight for freedom, justice, and #HumanRights.https://t.co/Co55B86TPD pic.twitter.com/a8Ajn3Ac3G
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) September 29, 2025
Nicolas Walder: The Deliberate Policy of Terror
Nicolas Walder, Member of the National Council of Switzerland, stressed the necessity of repeating the truth about the regime’s atrocities. He highlighted that inside Iranian prisons, “women and men are subjected to acts of torture that recall the darkest hours of our common history.” He praised the courage of political prisoners participating in the peaceful “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, now in its eighty-second consecutive week, staging hunger strikes against systematic abuses.
Mr. Walder asserted that growing number of executions is not simple statistics but reflects “a deliberate policy of intimidation and terror,” serving domestic political issues rather than security.
Beyond physical repression, Mr. Walder denounced Amnesty International’s recent reports concerning the “destruction of graves belonging to political prisoners executed in the 1980s at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran.” He called this act a sign of disrespect and an attempt to erase history, noting: “Building a parking lot on a memorial site is not just an insult to the victims, it is an attempt to make all evidence of past crimes against humanity disappear.”
Mr. Walder called upon the international community to assume its responsibilities. He demanded an end to capital executions, the release of political prisoners, and the holding of Iranian leaders accountable for their crimes. He concluded by expressing his unwavering support for Mrs. Rajavi’s vision: “I also express my support for the Ten-Point Plan of Madam Rajavi and any other credible initiative coming from Iranian civil society that defends a democratic and secular future, based on gender equality, the abolition of the death penalty, and the respect for fundamental rights.”
Iran News Alert
On September 29, simultaneously with the 60th UNHRC session, a conference in Geneva addressed Iran’s catastrophic human rights record. In a message, @Maryam_Rajavi highlighted the regime’s brutal crackdown, particularly on MEK members. Speakers, including… pic.twitter.com/4lKltNfv7D
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) October 2, 2025
Laurence Fellman Rielle: Condemning Backroom Diplomacy
Laurence Fellman Rielle, a Swiss MP, systematically cataloged the Iranian regime’s long record of abuse: “Arbitrary arrests, torture, massive capital executions, systematic discrimination against women, ethnic and religious minorities, as well as the brutal repression of all forms of political protest, even peaceful ones.” These practices, she affirmed, violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Ms. Rielle provided recent execution data from March 21 to September 22, 2025, noting 855 executions, including 29 women and five minors, with six prisoners publicly hanged “to sow fear among the population.” She stressed that the death sentence is often imposed on political prisoners, especially opponents of the regime, where “simply belonging to this movement [PMOI] can lead to a death sentence.”
She acknowledged that global conflicts often distract attention from the ongoing crimes in Iran, but insisted this is the time to “redouble efforts and put pressure on states like Iran that perpetuate these barbaric practices.” She highlighted Switzerland’s commitment to abolition and its role as the penholder for the resolution on the death penalty at the Human Rights Council.
However, Ms. Rielle voiced parliamentary frustration with the reliance on cautious diplomatic engagement. She noted that while the Federal Council cites its annual human rights dialogue with Iran, “we would actually like more committed responses rather than systematically relying on backroom diplomacy.”
She firmly stated her support for “The Ten-Point Plan of Madame Maryam Rajavi for a secular democratic republic, respecting gender equality.” She affirmed that, “Human rights are not negotiable and constitute a universal foundation that no State can violate with impunity.”
Simay Azadi’s exclusive interview with Prof. Dr. Herta Däubler-Gmelin. “(Iran’s #1988Massacre) is one of the most outrageous crimes in the history of mankind that has to be brought to court,” she told @Ehsaneghbale. #FreeIran2025 pic.twitter.com/Hz0h992kPI
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) October 3, 2025
Gianfranco Fattorini: The Need for an Accountability Mechanism
Gianfranco Fattorini, a member of the Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples (MRAP), redirected the focus from the regime’s nuclear ambitions back to its core human rights violations, starting with the intensified repression of women following the death of Mahsa Amini, leading to what many now term “gender apartheid.”
He highlighted the regime’s “extremely violent” reaction to the 2022 nationwide uprising that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the regime’s morality police. He referenced the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, which stressed that the death penalty is used “to terrorize Iranians and discourage them from protesting and expressing themselves freely.”
Mr. Fattorini stressed that the current execution spree must not overshadow past atrocities. He cited a UN Special Rapporteur’s report on the 1988 massacre, which found that Iranian officials “conspired and actively engaged to plan, order, and commit crimes against humanity and genocide against the nationals of their own state.”
The report, he noted, concluded that despite overwhelming evidence, “those with criminal responsibility for these grave and most serious violations of human rights and crimes under international law remain in power and control. The international community has been unable or unwilling to hold these individuals accountable.”
To address this persistent impunity, Mr. Fattorini reiterated the Special Rapporteur’s urgent call for international action: the establishment of “an international investigative and accountability mechanism to conduct prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigations into the crimes under international law” committed during the 1980s, specifically mentioning 1981, 1982, and 1988. This mechanism is necessary to “gather, consolidate, and preserve evidence with a view towards future criminal prosecution of all perpetrators.”
Speaking with Simay Azadi in Geneva, @IBetancourtCol explained the Iranian regime’s motive for escalating executions:
“The Iranian regime is under fear… fear that the protests of the people that are claiming to be free and to have justice… will overthrow them.”#Iran pic.twitter.com/l4JM9pbJE4
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) October 3, 2025
Safora Sadidi: Justice Denied is a License to Kill
Safora Sadidi, a member of the NCRI, provided a powerful personal testimony, emphasizing the decades-long impact of the regime’s impunity. Her father was executed in the 1988 massacre, among 30,000 political prisoners, for “only demanding justice and freedom for his country.”
She detailed the regime’s cruelty: her family never received his body, nor did they see a grave, being “even denied the dignity of mourning.” Ms. Sadidi noted that seven members of her extended family have given their lives for Iran’s freedom, part of the more than 120,000 lives sacrificed by the Resistance movement.
Ms. Sadidi pointed out that the regime continues to execute political prisoners “with the same cruelty, the same secrecy, and the same impunity.” She emphasized that recent threats to repeat the 1988 massacre are real, noting that the IRGC-affiliated Fars News agency published an editorial describing the massacre as a “successful historical experience” immediately before the executions of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani for their support of the PMOI.
She fiercely criticized the international silence, noting that while there have been 71 UN resolutions condemning the regime’s general human rights violations, “not one has clearly raised the 1988 massacre and the related atrocity crimes.” She declared, “So words without action only embolden the regime to continue more executions and more killings in Iran.”
Appealing directly to UN Special Rapporteur Mai Sato, Ms. Sadidi urged her to “urgently investigate the threat of mass executions of political prisoners in Iran,” specifically naming the 18 high-risk prisoners facing imminent execution. She concluded with a stark warning: “Justice delayed is justice denied. And justice denied is actually also a license to kill.” She called on co-sponsors of the UN General Assembly Third Committee Resolution to include a clear reference to the regime’s threat to repeat the 1988 massacre.
Iranian Resistance Supporters Rally Outside UN in #Geneva to Protest Executions in #Iran #StopExecutionsInIran #NoImpunity4Mullahs #FreeIran2025 https://t.co/BKbB0QKDlB
— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) October 4, 2025
Elham Sajedian: The Voice of the Executed
Elham Sajedian, an Iranian activist, concluded the testimonies by sharing the brutal story of her father, Mohammed Sajedian, an engineer executed by IRGC Intelligence Unit in Shiraz in 1985 because of his political views and association with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
She recounted the horrifying speed of the regime’s justice: “Only fifteen days passed between his capture and his execution,” which took place publicly. Ms. Sajedian revealed that she was only two days old when her father was murdered. Although the authorities initially resisted, her family received his body, which “bore clear marks of torture from head to toe.”
She highlighted the lasting trauma caused by the regime’s effort to erase its victims: “We were not allowed to put his name on the tomb. I grew up seeing my father’s unnamed grave.” Ms. Sajedian’s testimony served as a stark reminder of the long history of the regime’s violence and the denial of dignity to the families of resistance members.