During her first presentation to the UN Human Rights Council, Sato warned that if this pace continues, Iran will execute more than 1,000 people this year
During her first presentation to the UN Human Rights Council, Sato warned that if this pace continues, Iran will execute more than 1,000 people this year
Iran executed at least 169 people in January and February alone, according to Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.
During her first presentation to the UN Human Rights Council, Sato warned that if this pace continues, Iran will execute more than 1,000 people this year.
“I am very concerned about the rapid rise in the number of executions, especially just in the last two months as well,” Sato told IranWire in an exclusive interview following her presentation.
“I believe, looking at the past year’s patterns, January and February are quiet months, but we’ve already identified at least 169 executions,” she added.
Ali Bahreini, the Islamic Republic’s representative to the United Nations, entered the Human Rights Council chamber after the UN Special Rapporteur and the fact-finding committee presented their reports.
Reading from a prepared text, he dismissed human rights reports as “ridiculous” and fabricated by “global arrogance” before leaving the hall.
After the session examining Iran’s human rights situation ended, representatives of what they called “people’s organizations” approached Sato and criticized her report as inconsistent with reality.
All the protesters who surrounded Mai Sato were men.
In her report, Sato focused on four key issues: the rapid increase in executions, violations of the rights of ethnic groups and religious minorities, lack of transparency, and harassment and failure to respect the basic rights of activists and journalists in detention and prison.
She said, “And if that trend is sustained, then we’ll be seeing more than a thousand executions this year. So I’m deeply concerned about that.”
“In terms of other human rights allegations and violations, I wouldn’t say I witnessed a very dramatic change.
“I received similar amounts of allegations and reports on various issues - from equal access to justice, women’s rights, freedom of expression, and discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities.”
According to Sato, as soon as she was tasked with examining the human rights situation in Iran, she requested permission to visit Iran, and she remains hopeful that the Iranian government will allow her to travel there and conduct field research.
Sato said the Islamic Republic’s engagement with the Special Rapporteur is better compared to many other countries.
“In terms of many country mandate holders, some engage more than others. And in my view, the Islamic Republic of Iran engages a lot more than some of the other country mandate holders,” she said.
“Some wouldn’t show up in the interactive dialogue. They [Iran] were there, you know, took the floor. I don’t really expect—I’m seven months into my position and I think having a country mandate can be extremely uncomfortable.
“No government will be opening their arms to welcome me. So in some sense, I appreciate that they were there. What I would have liked is a little bit more substantive engagement with the content of the report,” she added.
Sato’s first report says that with 900 recorded executions in Iran in 2024, Iran has become the world’s largest user of the death penalty.
According to her report, half of the executions are related to drug offenses, followed by murder, and then national security crimes. She has also expressed concern about cases of women facing execution on security charges.
The Special Rapporteur expresses grave concern over the imposition of the death sentence on child offenders, as illustrated by the case of Mohammadreza Azizi.
Azizi was sentenced to death for a fatal stabbing committed when he was 17 years old, followed by two unsuccessful appeals to the Supreme Court in November 2021.
Although his execution had been scheduled for 21 October 2024, it had not been carried out as of November 2024, with ongoing efforts to persuade the victim’s parents to accept blood money instead.
Sato believes that the situation of women in Iran should be evaluated in a broader picture.
Mai Sato’s first report notes that Iran ranks 121st out of 193 countries in the UN Development Program’s Gender Inequality Index.
The UN Rapporteur points to women’s access to university education, which exceeds that of men, but simultaneously draws attention to the significant difference between women and men in employment.
She believes that regarding the situation of women in Iran, one must delve deeper into legal structures, policies, and procedures.
She said, “I think we need to look more deeply into the legal structures, policies and practices. In my report, I flag different laws for men and women in terms of marriage, divorce, access to inheritance, even for women to receive access to travel.”
She added, “I also write in the report about women subject to the death penalty and also femicide cases. And the point that I want to flag there is that whether you’re a woman sentenced to the death penalty or a victim of femicide, they both share very similar stories.”
According to Mai Sato, putting all these factors together can provide a picture of the situation of women in Iran.
In Mai Sato’s first report, at least 179 femicides were recorded in 2024, with the explanation that Iran’s legal system provides protections for male perpetrators.
It is still unclear how member states of the United Nations will vote on continuing Mai Sato’s mission. However, she hopes her mission will be extended for at least another year.
Mai Sato explains that she is obligated to present her reports on the current conditions in Iran to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, meaning she cannot, for example, address executions from previous years.
However, she believes that if examining past executions can help explain current conditions, the past should also be addressed.