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Islamic Republic authorities have detained tens of thousands of protesters during recent anti-government demonstrations that sparked after the killing of Mahsa Zhina Amini in police custody for having an “improper” hijab. Since September 16, Iranians across the country have been protesting against the government. Authorities have responded with a violent and deadly crackdown. Thousands have faced arbitrary detention and torture. There is a growing fear that authorities will sentence these individuals to vague crimes that put them in danger of execution. 

“Over the past six weeks, thousands of men, women and children – by some accounts over 14,000 persons – have been arrested, which includes human rights defenders, students, lawyers, journalists and civil society activists,” said Javaid Rehman, special rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran on November 2.

In Iran, defendants are tried in trials that are systematically unfair and lack due process. Individuals are routinely denied access to an attorney and are forced to make torture-tainted “confessions.” The Islamic Republic has a long record of using harsh sentences, such as the death penalty, as a weapon of repression against protesters and dissidents. On Sunday, November 6, 227 of the 290 members of the Islamic Republic parliament called for “the execution of the protestors sentenced to war as soon as possible.” The statement refers to the protesters as mohareb, which means “enemy of God” under Islamic law. The legal charge of moharebe or “waging war against God,” carries the death penalty. 

The United Nations must open an immediate investigation into the Islamic Republic of Iran's human rights violations and the use of the death penalty as a political tool. The UN Human Rights Council must immediately establish an independent investigative mechanism to assist in investigating and prosecuting people responsible for the most serious crimes under international law committed in the Islamic Republic of Iran. More than one million people signed an Amnesty International petition urging the establishment of this mechanism.