UN experts call on Iran to end crackdown on Kurds and Baluch
Rastî - United Nations (UN) human rights experts have urged Iran to end escalating arbitrary detention targeting ethnic minorities, particularly Kurds and Baluch,
RastinewsUnited Nations (UN) human rights experts have called on Iran to end escalating arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, ill-treatment and executions targeting ethnic minorities, particularly Kurds and Baluch.
In a statement, the UN experts said there were serious allegations that thousands of people had been detained since protests began in December 2025, with many subjected to torture and enforced disappearance.
The statement noted a marked rise in arbitrary arrests and politically motivated harsh sentences against ethnic minorities, adding that at least 24 Baluch and 22 Kurds had been executed in 2026, with many others facing the threat of execution.
The experts said a 2025 law broadening the definition of espionage, along with national security charges such as "moharebeh" (enmity against God), "efsad-fil-arz" (corruption on earth) and "baghi" (armed rebellion against the state), were being used as tools of repression, particularly against Kurds.
They issued an urgent appeal for Kurds Yusef Ahmedi, Rauf Sheikh Maroufi, Mohammad Faraji and Mohsen Eslamkhah — who are reportedly being tried on confessions extracted under torture — as well as Baluch detainee Farhad Baranzehi, calling for their death sentences to be halted.
The statement said the cases of Kurdish women activists Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi, who were previously sentenced to death, were also part of the systematic repression of Kurds and Baluch.
The UN experts also said arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance were rising against other ethnic minorities, including Sunni Kurds, Yarsanis and Azeris, and that children were among those affected.
The statement pointed out that Iran was also targeting Kurdish politicians and activists abroad, noting that in absentia rulings and extradition requests had recently been issued against 37 Kurdish leaders and activists, calling this part of a pattern of transnational repression.
The UN experts reminded Iran of its international human rights obligations and called for an end to torture, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and arbitrary executions, for fair trial rights to be guaranteed, and for discrimination against ethnic minorities to be ended.