Iran – the execution frenzy of the mullahs must stop

A Geneva Conference calls for UN Security Council action on Iran’s Human Rights Abuses
Veröffentlicht am 22. November 2025
(KD / Red) – A high-profile conference convened on Wednesday at the “Maison Internationale des Associations” in Geneva, gathering UN experts, Swiss parliamentarians, and eyewitnesses to address the alarming surge in executions in Iran and to urge immediate international action. The event took place in the wake of the UN General Assembly Third Committee’s adoption of a resolution condemning Iran’s human rights violations, passed with 79 votes in favor.
The conference featured several UN Special Rapporteurs, including Javaid Rehman, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran who joined the conference via video; Tahar Boumedra, former Chief of UNAMI in Iraq and President of ‘Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran’ (JVMI); Jeremy Sarkin, former Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Alfred de Zayas, former UN Independent Expert on International Order; Remy Pagani, former Mayor of Geneva, as well as several members of the Geneva Parliament. The keynote speaker to the conference, was Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) who joined the conference online.
Speakers highlighted that 2025 has seen a record high of at least 1,650 executions in Iran, including 51 women. The pace of executions has accelerated dramatically, with 285 people executed in October alone and over 170 prisoners killed since the beginning of November. The conference underscored systematic violence against women and the urgent need for international inspection of Iranian prisons, particularly regarding political prisoners.
In her remarks, Maryam Rajavi stated: “Amid the ongoing killings and the bloodbath unfolding inside Iran’s prisons, your conference carries exceptional significance. This slaughter is Khamenei’s war against the people of Iran, and a test for the international community.” She welcomed the recent UN resolution: “It is encouraging that the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, in its resolution, referred to massacre of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. In his report, for the first time, the United Nations recognized the executions of the 1980s and the 1988 massacre of political prisoners as acts of genocide and crimes against humanity.”
Recalling the victims of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners who were mostly members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Maryam Rajavi said: “Those innocent victims were serving, or had already served, their sentences. Despite horrific torture, those heroes stood firm for the cause of freedom for the Iranian people and were hanged. Moreover, they became victims of the world’s silence and censorship, as governments and international bodies chose to appease the regime.”
She called for international action, saying: “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention Against Torture are achievements of human sufferings. These achievements must be freed from the chains of commerce and appeasement and put at the service of the oppressed. The suffering people of Iran must feel the United Nations as their support under the rule of these oppressors.”
She added: “We call on the United Nations to take the necessary steps to refer the case of human rights violations in Iran to the UN Security Council. Today, Khamenei holds political prisoners’ hostage under inhumane conditions. Some have been in prison for two to three decades. But just as the notorious Saydnaya prison of the Syrian dictatorship collapsed last December, Evin and other notorious prisons of Khamenei will also collapse.”
The speech by Javaid Rehman, the former UN Special Rapporteur, focused on the alarming surge in executions in Iran, which he termed the most intense wave of executions since the mass killings of 1988. He reported that in 2025 alone, over 1,500 individuals have reportedly been executed.
Rehman stressed that the 1988 Massacre constitutes a systematic attack resulting in mass murder, extrajudicial executions, and enforced disappearances of thousands of political prisoners. He detailed that the regime is threatening to repeat the 1988 atrocities, noting that a state-affiliated outlet (linked to the IRGC) published an editorial praising the mass murder and openly advocating for a repeat. This culture of impunity is further demonstrated by the destruction of mass grave sites, such as Section 41 of the Zahra Cemetery, which was converted into a parking lot. Rehman welcomed the fact that the UN General Assembly resolution officially acknowledged the 1988 executions for the first time. He concluded by urging the international community to follow his past recommendations and establish an international accountability mechanism to investigate and prosecute the crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the 1988 Massacre.
Mr. Boumedra of the “Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre (JVMI)” organization reported on the successful passage of the UN Third Committee human rights resolution, calling it an extraordinary result. He noted that, for the first time, UN member states expressed they were “seriously concerned” by the human rights situation in Iran. The resolution identified the Iranian judicial system and the Revolutionary Guards as being responsible for abuses and extrajudicial executions that could be categorized as crimes against humanity. Mr. Boumedra stressed that Khomeini’s fatwa to eradicate resistance remains valid and urged states to use universal jurisdiction to hold those responsible accountable. He concluded by stating that while seizing the Security Council is an option, the immediate work is to continue mobilization to identify and prosecute those behind the crimes.
Regarding enforced disappearances in Iran, Mr. Jeremy Sarkin referenced the 1988 Massacre, where 30,000 people were killed in prisons. In 2021, the working group he was part of stated that the concealment of mass burial sites was a continuation of the 1988 crimes and called for an investigation. He noted that the working group still has 570 unresolved cases reported to it, and since 2004, Iran has failed to agree on dates for the working group to visit the country and resolve these critical cases. He highlighted that despite a global movement toward moratoriums, Iran has been executing more people than ever before in 2024, with over a thousand executions in 2025 alone. He specifically condemned Iran’s use of the death penalty against vulnerable minority groups (ethnic, racial, and religious).
In spite of all the UN recognition of the mullah’s violations and mass executions, here is the million-dollar-question: Will it be enough to have international organizations being “seriously concerned”? Every day, the mullah’s regime kills people, oppresses the people and violates international standards. Being “seriously concerned” is not enough, the international community must take a strong stance against the mullahs, before they have killed the entire opposition in the country.

https://eurojournalist.eu/iran-the-execution-frenzy-of-the-mullahs-must-stop/