On March 18, during the 58th session’s 34th meeting, the Human Rights Council hosted a joint interactive dialogue with Dr. Mai Sato, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as Sara Hossain Shaheen Sardar Ali and Viviana Krsticevic, the 3 experts of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Dr. Sato presented her first report to the HRC (A/HRC/58/62), while the FFM presented both an HRC report (A/HRC/58/63) and a detailed Conference Room Paper (A/HRC/58/CRP.1), published on the morning of the dialogue.
Sara Hossain said of its investigation: “Consolidated evidence strengthens our earlier findings that state authorities committed gross human rights violations, including unlawful killings, injuries, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, sexual and gender-based violence including rape, and a wide range of serious fair trial violations. Some of these violations amounted to crimes against humanity, including persecution on the grounds of gender.”
The Interactive Dialogue prompted comments from numerous member states, among them:
| European Union | “The EU strongly opposes the use of the death penalty under all circumstances. We are particularly concerned about the dramatic rise in executions, with reportedly at least 901 people executed in 2024. The use of capital punishment as a response to domestic dissent, including against persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, is unacceptable…” |
| Costa Rica (on behalf of a cross-regional group of 45 states) | “The FFM on Iran has found that human rights concerns in Iran are extensive and complex. There is a need to keep investigating continuing human rights violations and allegations of crimes against humanity and their root causes. We therefore call upon this Council to appropriately expand and extend the mandate of the FFM and call on Iran to cooperate fully with it and implement its recommendations.” |
| Ireland | “Ireland urges Iran to cease discrimination against women and girls in legal frameworks which greatly limit the realization of their rights. Ireland also calls for the removal of provisions related to criminalizing women’s dress choices…” |
| Estonia (on behalf of the Nordic Baltic States 🇪🇪🇱🇹🇱🇻🇩🇰🇳🇴🇸🇪🇮🇸🇫🇮) | “We note that the FFM concludes that there is a need for follow-up to its work, with a mandate to investigate allegations of serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity, both past and ongoing.” |
| Ukraine | “Iran’s complicity in Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine underscores the urgent need for global action to hold Tehran accountable both for its internal repression and its destabilizing role abroad.” |
| Albania | “..We are witnessing a clear deterioration in the panorama and the following: Arbitrary detention, persecution, discrimination, and ethnic-religious minority struggle, violence against women and girls, the torture and systematic murder of the opposition to the regime, impunity for the authors of human rights violations, absence of an independent judicial system, the application of the death penalty, including minors, and the disrespect of international obligations.” |
| Chile | “…we would like to express our concern about the human rights violations documented in the reports, including violent crackdowns on protests, the prosecution of human rights defenders and restrictions on their fundamental freedoms, as well as the extensive use of the death penalty.” |
Special Rapporteur Dr. Sato highlighted the use of death penalty, the absence of transparency, silencing of dissent, and underlined widespread discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities: “I continue to receive reports of arbitrary detention, unfair trials, in some cases resulting in death sentences. Women from these communities face particularly acute challenges, experiencing multiple overlapping forms of discrimination.”
The final portion of the dialogue featured remarks from several coalition members, including Kurdistan Human Rights Association-Geneva’s Taimoor Aliassi, Balochistan Human Rights Group’s Sabah Bandoui (speaking on behalf of BHRG and Minority Rights Group), and All Human Rights for All in Iran’s Sholeh Zamini (speaking on behalf of WILPF).
Per Taimoor Aliassi: “In [..] 2024, at least 970 prisoners were executed in Iran. Over 40% of them are Kurdish and Baluch citizens, while they make up only 20% of the Iranian population.”
Sabah Bandoui: “..The persecution of ethnic and religious minorities predates and extends beyond the Woman Life Freedom movement. We are deeply concerned by the state’s persistent campaign to silence dissent and the ongoing impunity for perpetrators.”
Sholeh Zamini: “Among those at risk of execution are women’s rights activists Varisheh Moradi, Sharifeh Mohammadi and Pakhshan Azizi: we urge the overturn of their wrongful convictions and release immediately.”