Iran Human Rights crisis: Maryam Rajavi speaks at United Nations
Maryam Rajavi: Remaining silent about the violations of human rights in Iran, emboldens Khamenei to continue his warmongering and bomb-making project
Honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen,
We meet today at a time when human rights in Iran urgently demand the world’s attention. The people of Iran are under severe oppression, and the crimes against them are shocking.
Since early July, at least 450 people have been executed in less than three months. In the past 14 months, 1,850 people—including 59 women—have been executed.
State-controlled media openly call for repeating the major crimes of the past, including the 1988 massacre of political prisoners—a crime the United Nations has described as both genocide and a crime against humanity.
Human Rights Abuses Go Far Beyond Executions and Imprisonments
The clerical regime’s campaign of repression focuses especially on members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), subjecting them to arrests, persecution, and various forms of restrictions.
In a court that has been trying the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and 104 officials and members of the Iranian Resistance, in their absence, since 2023 in Tehran, a regime so-called expert declared that every condition needed to prove the charge of bagh-ye (which means rebellion against the regime), fully applies to the PMOI.
He stated that the punishment for bagh-ye is death, without exception.
In July, two prisoners, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, were executed on charges that included membership in this organization. Presently, fourteen more face execution on the same charge.
Let me remind you that prisoners such as Maryam Akbari Monfared have been held for more than 15 years, simply for demanding justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre.
A growing social movement in Iran now raises the slogan “No to Execution.”
Recently, the people of Semirom demonstrated and went on strike after the brutal execution of one of their own, political prisoner Mehran Bahramian.
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.
Human rights abuses in Iran go far beyond executions and imprisonment.
Prisoners are denied even the most basic living and sanitary conditions. Their right to medical care is systematically violated, and some have died as a result.
The situation for women prisoners is even worse, especially in Qarchak Prison in Varamin.
World Community Needs to Support the Rights of Protesters
Distinguished friends,
This is only part of the horrific picture of human rights violations in Iran. The crimes of the early 1980s—especially the 1988 massacre—remain unpunished and are now being repeated in Iran’s prisons and streets.
Governments and United Nations bodies must end this unjustified impunity.
As the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran emphasized in 2024, states should use universal jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for Khamenei and other officials responsible for these atrocities.
Remaining silent about the violations of human rights in Iran, emboldens Khamenei to continue his warmongering and bomb-making project.
On September 23, he brazenly vowed not to abandon the 60 percent uranium enrichment.
In the face of this brutal regime, the international community must defend the rights and freedoms of protesters, rebellious youth, and Resistance Units in their fight against the IRGC, as underlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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.
