Since the US-Israeli strikes sparked the war in late February, at least nine people have been executed in connection with the protests that rocked Iran in January 2026, another 10 for alleged membership of opposition groups and two on spying charges, the UN’s rights office OHCHR said.
More than 4,000 people are meanwhile estimated to have been arrested on national security-related grounds, the OHCHR added.
It said many detainees had been victims of forced disappearances, torture or “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”, including forced confessions — sometimes televised — and mock executions.
“I am appalled that — on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict — the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities, in harsh and brutal ways,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
“In times of war, threats to human rights increase exponentially. Yet even where national security is invoked, human rights can only be limited where strictly necessary and proportionate.
“I call on the 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.”
The OHCHR said that many people, including children, remain at risk of the death penalty under Iran’s “broad and vague definition of national security crimes”.
Those accused are often subject to sped-up judicial proceedings, while some court verdicts against protesters, including at least nine who were executed, were reportedly based on coerced confessions, the agency said.
Meanwhile dozens of prisoners, including the lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, a 2012 winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov human rights prize, have been transferred to unknown locations.
Iran executes more people each year than any country except China, according to several rights groups, including Amnesty International.
‘Dire’ prison conditions
Turk also denounced the “dire” conditions in Iran’s prisons, where detainees suffer from overcrowding and “acute shortages” of food, water, hygiene supplies, medicine and medical care.
In Chabahar prison on March 18, detainees protesting against the prolonged suspension of food distribution were subjected to lethal violence, according to the OHCHR.
“Security forces reportedly killed at least five and injured 21 after confronting protestors,” the agency said.
The OHCHR said internet access in Iran had been almost entirely shut down for 61 days — one of the longest shutdowns ever recorded globally.
“This is denying people across the country access to vital information, silencing independent voices, and inflicting enormous social and economic harm,” Turk said.
“It is exacerbating an already precarious humanitarian and economic situation, and must be lifted immediately.”