ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations human rights chief on Wednesday said he was “appalled” by a surge in executions in Iran, which has left at least 21 people executed since the outbreak of the six-week war in late February. Volker Turk also censured Iranian authorities over the arrest of some 4,000 people during the same period, as well as Tehran’s ongoing internet shutdown - now in its 61st day - calling for it to be “lifted immediately.”
In a statement, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, “I am appalled that - on top of the already severe impacts of the [Iran-Israel-US] conflict - the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities in harsh and brutal ways.”
He noted that even in times of war, “core, non-derogable rights - such as protection against arbitrary detention and the right to a fair trial - must be respected absolutely at all times,” urging Iranian authorities to “halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and immediately release those arbitrarily detained.”
“Individuals from ethnic and religious minorities, including Baha'is, Zoroastrians, Kurds, and Baluch Iranians, have been at particular risk,” the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) highlighted.
The US and Israel in late February launched a wide-scale aerial campaign against Iran, targeting more than 17,000 sites across the country over six weeks of hostilities before the warring sides agreed to a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire on April 8.
The UN human rights office on Wednesday reported that since the outbreak of the war, Iranian authorities have executed “at least nine people in connection with the January 2026 protests, ten for alleged membership in opposition groups, and two on espionage charges.”
It further noted that during the same period, “more than 4,000 individuals are estimated to have been arrested on national security-related charges in Iran,” with “many detainees forcibly disappeared, tortured, or subjected to other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including coerced - and sometimes televised - confessions and mock executions.”
Importantly, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) highlighted that “individuals from ethnic and religious minorities, including Baha’is, Zoroastrians, Kurds, and Baluch Iranians, have been at particular risk.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s judiciary chief said on Tuesday that authorities would also expedite the confiscation of properties belonging to individuals accused of espionage, in order to repair damages incurred during the Iran war.
“The person who is Iranian on his ID card, but in reality is among the anti-Iranians of history, must pay the price for his association with the aggressor, and his property must be seized and confiscated for the benefit of the nation,” Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said, as cited by the semi-official Mehr News Agency.
Ejei said measures had been taken to “expedite” the redistribution of confiscated wealth from “traitors” for “the benefit of the public and rebuilding infrastructure.”
The UN human rights office said the “mass confiscation of assets” is being used as a tool of “transnational repression and punishment,” noting that Iranian authorities have “reportedly seized assets from around 675 citizens, including 400 Iranians living abroad - among them actors, athletes, executives, and journalists - labeling them as ‘traitors to the homeland’ and accusing them of supporting military strikes on Iran and cooperating with ‘hostile groups.’”
Moreover, Iranian authorities on February 28 imposed an internet blackout that has remained in place, entering its 61st consecutive day on Wednesday and affecting a population of over 93 million.
Turk warned on Wednesday that the shutdown was “denying people across the country access to vital information, silencing independent voices, and inflicting enormous social and economic harm.
“It is exacerbating an already precarious humanitarian and economic situation” and “must be lifted immediately,” the UN human rights chief urged.
Turk’s remarks come a day after the European External Action Service (EEAS) on Tuesday condemned the pace of executions in Iran, calling on authorities in Tehran to halt the use of capital punishment and release those detained for expressing dissent.
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