People gathering in London in 2022 as part of a worldwide series of protests in solidarity with Iranian women that took place. Photo credit: Alisdare Hickson. Creative commons.
GENEVA, 30 January, 2025 – Survivors of state violence in Iran are seeking support from the international community to counter impunity for past abuses and ongoing discrimination and severe repression of human rights, especially affecting women and girls in the country.
“I wish for an Iran where there is equality between all genders and no more persecution. An Iran with freedom of thought, of speech, and where women can dress as they want.
With these words, Kosar, a young Iranian woman who took the streets with many others, shared her hopes for Iran with Justice Rapid Response during a survivor’s gathering on the sidelines of the last Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. JRR has been supporting the UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Iran with highly technical expertise and opened its doors for this gathering to take place.
Kosar became an activist for the rights of blinded people. She was detained for joining the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” protests that erupted following the death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody, survived sexual and gender-based violence, and was then intentionally shot by an agent during a protest.
During the last HRC session, Kosar and other survivors listened as Iranian officials denied their alleged responsibility for widespread abuses. Based on the findings of the FFM, these human rights violations include murder, torture, rape, and gender persecution, which are often tied to ethnicity and religious identities, and may amount to crimes against humanity.
Another survivor, Behnaz, also shared that publicly speaking out is perilous, but survivors do it nonetheless because they “believe in a greater cause, that our voices must be heard, that they must bring to justice those responsible for crimes against humanity.”
Behnaz’s testimony echoes the experiences of many women in Iran, who are fighting not only for gender equality but also for basic civil rights. “I’ve witnessed many things and now it’s a burden, a responsibility to be the voice of those unheard.”
In recent years, Iran’s human rights situation has drastically worsened, with a surge in executions, flogging, honour killings, and gender-based violence. Dozens of prominent women human rights defenders are currently detained, serving long prison sentences for their peaceful demands of equality and human rights.
Since the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising, women face harsh discrimination, enforced through mandatory veiling laws and state surveillance, and other punitive policies that risk amplifying gender, ethnic, and social inequalities.[1]
“Women are considered as half-humans” and “it has been as if we’ve been living in Orwell’s 1984 world, with all the lies, hypocrisies, oppression, and severe disciplinary actions and punishment [against students and professors]”, explained Behnaz. She also described the systematic repression enforced by the morality police, recalling constant surveillance, heavy fines, threats and arrests for violating hijab laws.
Parental rights, education, and travel are also severely restricted. “To me, my students became my children, but they took them away as well”, reflects Behnaz after being denied the right to teach her students and pursue academic life. “They took my roots, my job, my health. I don’t know what I should wish for the future apart from peace, stability and a hope to pursue my academic life again.”
Justice for alleged violations linked to the protests remain distant, albeit two years have passed already. Women who led the protests, supported by many men, often faced violent attacks including beatings and being shot at.[2] “Many lost their eyes, many their body members, and many their lives”, emphasized Kosar.
The FFM’s latest report established a pattern of ocular injuries among protesters and bystanders, including women and children, resulting in the partial or full loss of their eyesight. These injuries impact their physical and mental health and, in the case of children, their education. The FFM also noted the deterrent effect of such injuries, branding victims as protesters.
Scarf that women detainees were required to put to cover their hair in detention. Photo credits: Behnaz who specified: “Nobody ever wore them”.
Demonstrators often face inhumane imprisonment and punishments. Behnaz recounted: “In Gharchak Women’s Prison, in the Quarantine ward, we were 91 people packed in six small rooms with inedible food, bad hygiene conditions, surveillance everywhere, and lights on 24/7. If this isn’t torture, what is?”
Both Kosar and Behnaz highlighted the Government’s rhetoric of branding protesters[3] as outsiders, traitors, and terrorists, justifying their repression.
“The State claims that people blinded have received divine retribution for their sins,” and that the Government acts “in the name of God.” The reality is that “injustice is now visible on the body of Iranian citizens”, reflects Kosar.
Despite victims’ testimonies, international condemnation and calls for accountability, Iran shows limited engagement with human rights mechanisms, maintaining systemic impunity for violations and introducing new policies severely violating human rights. There is an urgent need for international accountability.
With the FFM being active until March 2025, there is hope that continued international scrutiny will advance accountability pathways. The FFM will present its final comprehensive findings on Iran during the next HRC session starting later in February. For women in Iran, justice, though seemingly distant, remains a fervent aspiration. Kosar finds reassurance that FFM investigators hear victims’ stories and publicly report the crimes being committed in Iran. Survivors need their voices to be amplified, as “the Government cannot continue to do violence in complete impunity.”
“I hope the Government and all those involved answer for their crimes, for the gender apartheid they imposed on us”, expressed Behnaz with guarded optimism. “Because when you tell the victims that they deserve what has happened to them, when the perpetrators are not brought to justice, when I can see these perpetrators among the Government’s representatives at the UN, it becomes hard to imagine that there’s nothing wrong with this world”.
Full video coverage of interviews with survivors: UN FFM on Iran – UN Human Rights Council
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[1] Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). June 2023. “Iran Update on Human Rights.” URL: https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/06/iran-update-human-rights; OHCHR. Sept. 2024. “Iran intensifying efforts to repress women and girls on second anniversary of nation-wide protests, UN Fact-Finding Mission says.” URL: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/iran-intensifying-efforts-repress-women-and-girls-second-anniversary-nation.
[2] Somayeh Malekian and Camilla Alcini. Sept 2023. “Men Targeted by Iranian Regime as Women Protest for Equal Rights.” URL: https://abcnews.go.com/International/men-now-targeted-iranian-regime-women-protest-equal/story?id=103291751.
[3] FFM on Iran Report, p. 5.