Iran war: ‘Tehran executed 21 people, arrested over 4,000 since Feb 28’
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Since February 28, 2026, when the US and Israel launched aerial attacks on Iran, Tehran has executed at least 21 people, and arrested more than 4,000 on national security-related charges, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Wednesday.
At least nine people have been executed in connection with mass protests in January 2026, 10 for alleged membership in opposition groups, and two on espionage charges, the media quoted him as saying.
“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,” Turk said in a statement.
“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,” he said.
Iranian authorities allegedly killed thousands of people during anti-government protests in January 2026, Iran’s worst domestic unrest since the era of its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Rights groups say the government has continued to crack down on opponents during the ongoing war.
Iran in January rejected condemnation by the UN Human Rights Council as “politicized.”
Last week, Norway-based Iran Human Rights said that at least 3,646 people have been arrested, with 767 cases reported following the start of a ceasefire on April 8.
Turk said that many of the thousands detained “have been forcibly disappeared, tortured, or subjected to other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including coerced – and sometimes televised – confessions and mock executions.”
He said individuals from ethnic and religious minorities had been at particular risk.
“Dozens of prisoners have been transferred to unknown locations with no information on their fate, among them human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh,” he said.
Turk said the health of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Narges Mohammadi was reportedly worsening after she suffered a heart attack, and her medical condition was compounded by existing chronic medical conditions resulting from her arrest.
Turk said that in Chabahar Prison, in southeast Iran, security forces reportedly killed at least five people and injured 21 after confronting people protesting a prolonged suspension of food distribution. He said two more detainees died in custody in a different prison, with indications that they had been subjected to torture.
