On March 23, 2025, Mizan News Agency, affiliated with the judiciary of Iran’s regime, responded to remarks by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Conditions in Iran Mai Sato at the annual Human Rights Council session by writing, “In her introductory message published on the social media platform X, Sato expressed appreciation for what she called the tireless efforts of Javaid Rehman, the so-called UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran. A look at the past few months since Mai Sato began her tenure as the so-called UN Special Rapporteur on Iran reveals a historical reality: Sato, like her predecessors and contrary to her initial promises, has made politicization and distortion her agenda regarding Iran.”
These remarks come as the regime is still reeling from the final report by former Javaid Rehman which documented the regime’s genocide against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) members during 1981–1982 and the 1988 massacre.
On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, the 58th annual session of the United Nations Human Rights Council was held in Geneva, where the UN Special Rapporteur presented her report on the human rights situation in Iran.
In her report, Mai Sato expressed concern over the increase in executions, discrimination against minorities, lack of transparency in addressing human rights cases, and continued suppression of protests and dissent. She stated: “The extraordinary rise in executions in 2024 in the Islamic Republic of Iran, with over 900 recorded cases, alongside the highest number of women executed in the past decade, creates serious concerns about the application of the death penalty.”
During this session, Sara Hossain, Chair of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, also referenced the 2022 uprisings in Iran and stated that according to the Fact-Finding Mission, 10 men have been executed in the context of the 2022 protests and at least 11 men and three women remain at risk of being executed, amid “serious concerns over the adherence to the right to a fair trial, including the use of torture-tainted confessions, and due process violations”.
“Women human rights defenders and activists have continued to face criminal sanctions, including fines, lengthy prison sentences, and in some cases the death penalty for peaceful activities in support of human rights,” the Independent Mission asserted.
In the same session, the European Union representative issued a statement saying that the reports clearly show widespread and systemic human rights violations in Iran. Arbitrary arrests, the use of torture, and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment remain key concerns. The EU declared that the use of the death penalty as a response to internal dissent is unacceptable and called for its abolition in Iran.
The UK representative stated: The human rights situation in Iran remains horrific, and executions have reached a crisis level. The number of women being executed has increased. Many are executed following unfair trials. Only 10% of these executions are publicly announced.
The representative from Spain condemned the alarming rise in executions in Iran in 2024 and said that Spain calls for the abolition of the death penalty in Iran. The representative also expressed concern about the violence perpetrated by state forces, the appalling conditions of detainees, and condemned the systematic suppression of freedom of expression and assembly in Iran.
In addition to the representatives from Spain and the United Kingdom, delegates from several other member states of the Human Rights Council—including Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Australia, Estonia, Ireland, Albania, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, New Zealand, and the Netherlands—also spoke out against the Iranian regime’s repressive policies and human rights violations.