TIM team · · Updated 28 October 2026 · 10 min read
In this article
- Victims Are More Than Statistics
- Preserving Evidence Is a Human Rights Imperative
- Arbitrary Detention, Disappearance and Torture
- Executions and Fair-Trial Guarantees
- Freedom of Expression and the Right to Document
- War Does Not Erase Human Rights Obligations
- From Documentation to Accountability
- The Right to Truth Must Include Their Names
- Sources and United Nations References
On 28 October 2026, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Mai Sato, will present her latest report to the United Nations General Assembly alongside the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This presentation comes amid continuing and grave concerns regarding the human rights situation in Iran and an expanding international record concerning killings, executions, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, violations of fair-trial guarantees, restrictions on freedom of opinion and expression, repression of peaceful assembly, and reprisals against human rights defenders and those documenting violations.
United Nations Special Procedures have documented allegations of widespread arbitrary arrests and detention in connection with nationwide protests, in some cases reportedly followed by enforced disappearance and torture or other ill-treatment. They have also raised concerns regarding death sentences imposed following proceedings allegedly lacking respect for fair-trial guarantees and involving confessions reportedly obtained through torture.
For The Iran Massacre, these findings reinforce a fundamental principle:
Every victim must be recognized as an individual, and every credible allegation of a serious human rights violation must be preserved for truth, accountability and justice.
Victims Are More Than Statistics
Behind every figure contained in a United Nations report is a human being.
Those killed had names, families and lives.
Those executed were entitled to the protections guaranteed under international human rights law.
Those detained are entitled to protection from arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment and to the fundamental guarantees of due process and a fair trial.
Those subjected to enforced disappearance leave families searching for information about their fate and whereabouts.
Those injured carry the consequences of violence long after international attention has moved elsewhere.
And those who document violations — including human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, families, witnesses and ordinary citizens — may themselves face serious risks for preserving evidence.
The task of documentation is therefore not simply to establish numbers.
It is to ensure that victims are not erased.
Preserving Evidence Is a Human Rights Imperative
The United Nations Human Rights Council has specifically mandated the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran to ensure that evidence of human rights violations is “fully and effectively documented, verified, consolidated and preserved.”
That language is central to the work of The Iran Massacre.
In an environment characterized by censorship, restrictions on communications, fear of reprisals and limited access for independent investigators, evidence may be fragmented.
A photograph may be evidence.
A video may be evidence.
A witness statement may be evidence.
A court document, medical record, death certificate, burial record or detention notice may be evidence.
A social-media post preserved before deletion may be evidence.
The identity of a victim may initially be established through a family member, witness or local source long before that individual appears in an international report.
Responsible documentation requires that this information be preserved together with its source, context, date, provenance and degree of verification.
Uncertainty should be recorded.
Contradictions should be investigated.
But the absence of immediate independent corroboration must not automatically result in the disappearance of a potential victim from the historical record.
Arbitrary Detention, Disappearance and Torture
In May 2026, UN Special Procedures reported receiving information concerning alleged widespread arbitrary arrests and detention, frequently followed by alleged enforced disappearance, torture, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the context of nationwide protests.
These allegations engage some of the most fundamental protections of international human rights law.
No person should be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention.
No detainee should be held outside the protection of the law.
No person should be subjected to torture.
Families must be informed of the fate and whereabouts of those deprived of liberty.
And persons facing criminal charges must receive the guarantees required by international standards of due process and fair trial.
Where individuals disappear into detention systems without reliable information concerning their location or condition, documentation becomes particularly urgent.
The name of the detained person must remain visible.
Their arrest must remain part of the record.
Their fate must continue to be sought.
Executions and Fair-Trial Guarantees
United Nations experts have repeatedly raised concerns regarding executions and persons facing an imminent risk of execution in Iran.
In May 2026, UN Special Procedures intervened in cases involving individuals reportedly at imminent risk of execution following proceedings that raised serious concerns regarding alleged torture, arbitrary detention and violations of fair-trial guarantees.
International human rights standards impose particularly stringent requirements in cases involving the death penalty.
Where a death sentence follows proceedings that fail to meet applicable fair-trial guarantees, the consequences are irreversible.
Allegations of torture-tainted confessions, denial of effective legal representation, arbitrary detention or other serious procedural violations therefore require urgent independent scrutiny.
The names of those executed must be preserved.
The circumstances of their arrest, detention, trial and execution must be documented.
And evidence relevant to potential unlawful executions must remain available for future accountability processes.
Freedom of Expression and the Right to Document
UN Special Procedures examining the situation in Iran have also addressed allegations involving violations of freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, the situation of human rights defenders, the independence of judges and lawyers, freedom of religion or belief, and violence against women and girls.
Restrictions on access to information have consequences extending far beyond censorship.
When communications are disrupted, families may be unable to locate detained relatives.
People may be unable to document injuries or deaths.
Witnesses may lose the ability to transmit evidence.
Journalists and human rights defenders may be unable to communicate safely.
And potential evidence may disappear before it can be preserved.
The protection of those who document human rights violations must therefore form part of any meaningful accountability strategy.
War Does Not Erase Human Rights Obligations
Dr. Sato's current reporting also addresses the interaction between repression inside Iran and the armed hostilities involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
United Nations Special Procedures have separately raised grave concerns regarding civilian casualties and destruction resulting from those hostilities, including damage to educational, medical, public-health, cultural and religious sites and other civilian infrastructure. They have referred to potential violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
These obligations must not be treated as mutually exclusive.
Violations committed by an external actor do not remove the responsibility of Iranian authorities to respect the rights of people within their jurisdiction.
Likewise, serious violations committed by Iranian authorities do not diminish the rights of Iranian civilians to protection from unlawful military action.
Human rights are not suspended because victims are politically inconvenient.
Every alleged violation must be examined according to the applicable law and available evidence.
Every victim deserves recognition.
From Documentation to Accountability
The international community now possesses an extensive and growing record concerning human rights violations in Iran.
United Nations mechanisms have gathered information.
Witnesses have testified.
Families have provided names.
Human rights organizations have preserved evidence.
Special Procedures have issued urgent communications.
Fact-finding mechanisms have been established.
Reports have been submitted to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly.
The question facing the international community is increasingly not whether information exists.
It is whether that information will contribute to meaningful accountability.
Documentation must be preserved for future judicial and non-judicial accountability mechanisms.
Victims and witnesses must be protected against reprisals.
Families must have access to truth concerning the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.
States should cooperate with relevant United Nations human rights mechanisms.
And where credible evidence indicates that crimes under international law may have been committed, responsible investigative and judicial authorities should ensure that such evidence is preserved and examined in accordance with applicable law.
Previous United Nations reporting concerning Iran has explicitly called for international accountability mechanisms and for States, where legally available, to consider universal or other forms of extraterritorial jurisdiction in relation to crimes under international law.
The Right to Truth Must Include Their Names
The Iran Massacre was created around a simple but essential principle:
Victims must not disappear into statistics.
We seek to preserve the identities and available documentation concerning those reported:
Killed.
Executed.
Detained.
Forcibly disappeared or missing.
Injured.
And those facing execution or other grave violations of their fundamental rights.
We document with respect for the dignity, security and privacy of victims, survivors, witnesses and their families.
We distinguish verified information from allegations still requiring further corroboration.
We preserve sources because evidence that appears fragmented today may become essential to an investigation tomorrow.
And we preserve names because the historical record must reflect not only how many people suffered, but who they were.
As Dr. Mai Sato and the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission appear before the United Nations General Assembly on 28 October, we urge Member States and international institutions to place victims, survivors and their families at the centre of their response.
The evidence must be protected.
The disappeared must be accounted for.
Those arbitrarily detained must not be forgotten.
Those facing execution must receive the protections guaranteed by international law.
Those documenting violations must be protected against reprisals.
And credible evidence of serious human rights violations and crimes under international law must be preserved for future accountability.
Documentation is not justice.
But without documentation, justice can be denied.
Without names, victims can be erased.
Without preserved evidence, perpetrators of serious violations may escape accountability.
The international community has been given evidence.
It must ensure that evidence leads to truth, accountability, remedy and non-recurrence.
The Iran Massacre
TheIranMassacre.org
We Will Not Forget Their Names.
Sources and United Nations References
1. United Nations Human Rights Council — Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran
Human Rights Council mandate requiring that evidence of human rights violations be “fully and effectively documented, verified, consolidated and preserved.”
https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=DiObwkJS5Uze6fhD3hHJGwzJnTByRVmzcP54RzpmaKrDAszyBDDwC1tExGvrIvv2A4MwitSN3miNk3kuImzlCw%3D%3D
2. Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights — Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
UN mandate page for Special Rapporteur Dr. Mai Sato, including the mandate's history and Human Rights Council resolutions.
https://spinternet.ohchr.org/ViewAllCountryMandates.aspx
3. UN Special Procedures — Joint Urgent Appeal IRN 7/2026, 27 May 2026
UN experts reported receiving information concerning alleged widespread arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as death sentences imposed following proceedings raising concerns regarding fair-trial guarantees and torture-tainted confessions.
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TmSearch/RelCom?code=IRN+7%2F2026
4. UN Special Procedures — IRN 7/2026, Summary of Allegations
Official OHCHR summary concerning alleged arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture or other ill-treatment and violations of fair-trial guarantees in connection with the nationwide protests.
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TmSearch/SummaryPrint?id=31002
5. UN Special Procedures — Cases involving imminent risk of execution, 2026
UN experts raised serious concerns regarding alleged torture, arbitrary detention and violations of fair-trial guarantees involving individuals reported to be at imminent risk of execution.
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/LatestReports/SummaryPrint?id=31026
6. UN Special Procedures — Iran communications, 2026
Official OHCHR record of communications concerning Iran, including mandates on arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, human rights defenders, judicial independence, freedom of religion or belief, torture, and violence against women and girls.
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TmSearch/SearchCode?code=IRN+1%2F2026%3B+IRN+4%2F2026%3B+IRN+5%2F2026%3B+IRN+6%2F2026%3B+IRN+7%2F2026
7. UN Special Procedures — IRN 11/2026 and IRN 12/2026
Official communications concerning alleged arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and individuals facing an imminent risk of execution following proceedings raising serious fair-trial concerns.
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TmSearch/Mandates?m=31
8. UN Special Procedures — Armed hostilities affecting civilians in Iran, 2026
UN experts raised concerns regarding civilian casualties, destruction of civilian objects and alleged violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law during hostilities involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TmSearch/SummaryPrint?id=31178
9. UN Special Procedures — Communications Sent Database
Official OHCHR database containing communications by UN independent experts concerning alleged human rights violations, including communications addressed to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/LatestReports/CommunicationSent
10. United Nations Human Rights Council — Special Rapporteur on Iran
The UN Human Rights Council established the country mandate on Iran in 2011 and has repeatedly renewed it. Dr. Mai Sato is the current Special Rapporteur.
https://spinternet.ohchr.org/ViewAllCountryMandates.aspx