More than 300 prominent international legal experts, human rights defenders, and Nobel laureates have issued a joint open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, warning of a sharp escalation in executions in Iran and an emerging pattern of atrocity crimes.
The signatories—including former UN officials, international court presidents, and leading jurists—state that Iranian authorities are exploiting recent regional instability to intensify political repression.
They highlight an unprecedented surge in executions, the highest in nearly four decades, with political prisoners, protesters, and dissidents facing arbitrary execution following grossly unfair trials on vaguely defined national security charges.
The letter notes that at least eight political prisoners linked to the opposition PMOI have been executed, while many more remain at imminent risk. It further argues that the current wave of killings reflects Iran’s long-standing culture of impunity, drawing parallels with the 1988 massacres.
The signatories urge UN Member States to establish an international accountability mechanism and condition diplomatic and economic engagement with Iran on a verifiable halt to executions.
The letter has also been shared widely across the UN system, including with High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Dr Mai Sato, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission
You can read the full text and see the full list of signatories by clicking this link.