On Saturday, February 8, Judge Nasser Seraj was appointed by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s judiciary as the new head of the High Council for Human Rights, the country’s top human rights institution. The High Council, part of the judiciary branch, is the principal interlocutor with UN human rights mechanisms and States concerning Iran’s human rights situation. It also oversees Iran’s participation in the Universal Periodic Review. In its mission statement, the High Council’s stated duties include “[s]upervising and maintaining the Islamic Republic’s human rights positions on the international scene and countering attacks leveled [against Iran].” Judge Seraj will also serve concurrently as Deputy Director of International Affairs of the Judiciary.
We, as civil society organisations monitoring the situation of human rights in Iran, are deeply dismayed by this appointment, which places an individual with a documented record of severe human rights violations at the helm of Iran’s principal human rights body. This move demonstrates the Iranian authorities’ continuing unwillingness to undertake genuine human rights reforms and their disregard for fundamental freedoms.
Seraj’s four-decade judicial career has been characterized by his prominent role in a judicial system weaponised to suppress dissent and advance the Islamic Republic’s ideological agenda, and his contribution to serious, widespread violations of fundamental rights. In his capacity as a judge and in other senior roles within Iran’s judiciary, Seraj has actively shaped and enforced decisions and practices that led the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran to describe the judiciary as “a repressive organ instead of an independent body towards which individuals can seek recourse.”
During the 2009 presidential election, which contested results triggered mass protests met by violent state repression, Seraj served as Chairman of the Election Inquiry Committee of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The Committee’s reports inform the Guardian Council’s decisions to disqualify opposition candidates on vague national security grounds and even annul votes under similarly broad procedural rules. As Chairman, Seraj thus held a critical leadership role in overseeing an election widely condemned by UN experts, the media and independent monitors as unfree, unfair, and nontransparent.
In the aftermath of the 2009 election, Seraj served as the Attorney’s General Deputy Prosecutor for Political and Security Affairs, leading prosecutions against numerous protesters arrested during and following the protests. Concurrently, he headed the Judiciary Board for Selecting Jury Members at the Press Supervisory Board, appointing jurors to press courts that routinely imposed bans on independent publications, imprisoned journalists, and enforced severe restrictions on press freedom through politically motivated trials.
Judge Seraj has also imposed death sentences in proceedings that fell far short of international fair trial standards. In 2013, he sentenced four individuals to death in an embezzlement case involving state and private banks, despite the crimes not meeting the “most serious crimes” threshold under international law. One of the defendants, Mahafarid Amir-Khosravi, was executed on May 24 2014 without prior notice to his family or defense lawyer. These actions illustrate Seraj’s direct role in issuing arbitrary and unlawful death sentences, in clear violation of human rights law.
Seraj’s track record mirrors that of previous heads of the High Council for Human Rights, who have consistently sought to deny and refute UN reports on Iran’s widespread human rights violations and crimes under international law. His appointment indicates the government’s plans to maintain its course in disregarding recommendations from international human rights monitors and refusing scrutiny. His long history of suppressing free expression, issuing politically motivated death sentences, and leading judicial crackdowns makes him emblematic of Iran’s systemic repression. Under his leadership, the High Council will likely remain a vehicle for concealing and justifying the state’s human rights violations, rather than upholding Iran’s international human rights obligations.
Signatories
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran
Ahwaz Human Rights Organization
All Human Rights for All in Iran
Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran (AHRAZ)
Baloch Activists Campaign
Balochistan Human Rights Group
Center for Human Rights in Iran
Defenders of Human Rights Center
Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort
Human Rights Activists in Iran
Impact Iran
Iran Human Rights
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Kurdistan Human Rights Association-Geneva (KMMK-G)
Kurdistan Human Rights Network
Kurdpa Human Rights Organization
PEN America
Rasank
Siamak Pourzand Foundation
United For Iran