UN experts urge Iran to end escalating targeting of ethnic minorities
GENEVA – UN experts | 06 August 2026
GENEVA – UN experts* today called on Iranian authorities to end the escalating arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, and arbitrary executions of ethnic minorities, particularly Kurdish and Baluch minorities.
“Iran’s ethnic minorities must be able to live in safety and dignity, free from discrimination,” the experts said.
Since the start of the protests in December 2025, authorities have reportedly detained thousands of individuals, sujecting many to torture and other ill-treatment aimed at extracting confessions. In many cases, the persons deprived of liberty in this context have been subjected to enforced disappearance.
“Reports point to a significant increase in arbitrary arrests, and what appears to be politically motivated sentences, including against individuals from ethnic minorities, who are often arrested under broadly defined national security charges,” the experts said.
In 2026 alone, at least 24 members of the Baluch minority and 22 members of the Kurdish minority have been executed, and many more are at imminent risk of execution.
“The 2025 law expanding the definition of espionage, as well as other broadly defined national security offences, such as ‘enmity against God (moharebeh)’, ‘spreading corruption on earth (Efsad-fil-Arz)’, and ‘armed rebellion against the foundations of the Islamic Republic of Iran (baghi)’ have been used, especially against the Kurds, as a tool to repress dissent,” said the experts.
They made an urgent appeal on behalf of four Kurdish individuals – Yousef Ahmadi, Raouf Sheikh Maroufi, Mohammad Faraji and Mohsen Eslamkhah – and a Baluch individual – Farhad Baranzehi – who face imminent risk of execution following proceedings allegedly marred by torture and forced confessions. These form part of a broader pattern of systematic repression of Iran’s Kurdish and Baluch minorities, including the earlier death sentences imposed on Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi.
“Minorities, particularly those whose ethnic identity intersects with religious minority status, such as Sunni-Kurds and Yarsans, have been and continue to be targeted during periods of political and social unrest through narratives that portray them as threats to national security,” they said.
The experts also noted reports of increased arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of other ethnic minorities, including the Azeri community, among them minors.
“The targeting of Kurdish and Baluch minorities extends beyond the country’s borders and includes campaigns of threats and surveillance against individuals living abroad as forms of transnational repression,” said the experts.
The authorities have seized the assets of hundreds of Iranians abroad and recently published a list of 37 Kurdish leaders and activists abroad, accompanied by in absentia sentences and extradition requests. Counter-terrorism laws are also misused domestically and transnationally against minorities.
The experts recalled Iran’s obligations under international human rights law, including the peremptory absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and enforced disappearance, the right to liberty and security of person, guarantees of due process and fair trial, protection against arbitrary deprivation of life, and equal treatment and non-discrimination.
The experts remain in contact with Iranian authorities on these cases.
*The experts:
- Mai Sato, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
- Morris Tidball-Binz, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
- Nazila Ghanea, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
- Nicolas Levrat, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues
- Margaret Satterthwaite , the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
- Ben Saul, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
- Gina Romero, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
- Matthew Gillett (Chair-Rapporteur), Ganna Yudkivska (Vice-Chair on Communications), Ethan Hee-Seok Shin (Vice-Chair on Follow-Up), Miriam Estrada-Castillo and Mumba Malila, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
- Gabriella Citroni (Chair-Rapporteur), Grażyna Baranowska (Vice-Chair), Aua Baldé, and Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organisation, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.
Country-specific observations and recommendations by the UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures, the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review, can be found on the Universal Human Rights Index https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/
UN Human Rights, country page – Iran
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