Latest UN Report: Deadly Repression of Kurds, Balochs, and Arabs in Iran
Hengaw: Sunday, March 16, 2025
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights welcomes the latest report by Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran. This report, which references Hengaw’s documented statistics on systematic human rights violations, femicide, and executions, once again highlights the widespread and targeted executions of national and ethnic minorities in Iran. It reveals that the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to use the death penalty as a tool for systematic killings, repression, and intimidation, particularly against Kurds, Balochs, and Arabs.
According to the report presented to the UN Human Rights Council, 49% of all political prisoners executed in Iran between 2010 and 2023 were from the Kurdish minority. Additionally, 29% were Balochs, 16% were Arabs, and 6% belonged to other national and ethnic minorities.
These statistics, which align with Hengaw’s documented findings over the years, constitute clear evidence of crimes against humanity. The Iranian government, in blatant disregard for fundamental human rights principles, not only continues its systematic repression of these communities but has also turned executions into a tool for erasing their identity, resistance, and right to life.
Over the past years, Hengaw has been one of the primary organizations documenting and reporting on executions and the suppression of national and ethnic minorities in Iran. With extensive access to field sources and independent news networks, Hengaw has meticulously documented the realities of repression, repeatedly warning that the Iranian government employs the death penalty as a mechanism of systematic suppression. The latest UN report reaffirms these warnings and the evidence presented by Hengaw.
The report also sheds light on the widespread repression of dissidents, femicide, arbitrary detention of civil activists, harassment of bereaved families seeking justice, and the intensifying crackdown on civil society. These findings confirm Hengaw’s reports, which state that the Iranian state has escalated its repression of national and ethnic minorities, particularly following the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” (Women, Life, Freedom) movement.
Hengaw warns of the continuation of targeted executions and urges the UN Human Rights Council and all international bodies to take immediate action to stop these crimes. The extensive executions, systematic human rights violations, and ongoing repression demonstrate that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not only resistant to reform but is deliberately pursuing a policy of physical and cultural eradication of minorities.
Hengaw remains committed to its mission of documenting and exposing the crimes of the Iranian government and calls on all human rights defenders to unite in this cause. Execution is a tool of state-sponsored crime, and it must be stopped.
