Independent United Nations human rights experts have urged Iranian authorities to end the escalating targeting of ethnic minorities, particularly Baloch and Kurdish communities, citing reports of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and executions.
“Iran’s ethnic minorities must be able to live in safety and dignity, free from discrimination,” the experts said in a joint statement issued on August 6.
The experts said Iranian authorities had reportedly detained thousands of people since protests began in December 2025, with many subjected to torture and other ill-treatment aimed at extracting confessions.
They said that in many cases, those detained had also been subjected to enforced disappearance.
“Reports point to a significant increase in arbitrary arrests, and what appears to be politically motivated sentences, including against individuals from ethnic minorities, who are often arrested under broadly defined national security charges,” the statement said.
According to the experts, at least 24 members of the Baloch minority and 22 members of the Kurdish minority have been executed in 2026, while many others remain at imminent risk of execution.
The statement said Iran’s 2025 law expanding the definition of espionage, along with broadly defined national security charges such as “enmity against God”, “spreading corruption on earth” and “armed rebellion against the foundations of the Islamic Republic of Iran”, had been used, particularly against Kurds, as a tool to repress dissent.
The experts also issued an urgent appeal on behalf of four Kurdish individuals, Yousef Ahmadi, Raouf Sheikh Maroufi, Mohammad Faraji and Mohsen Eslamkhah, and one Baloch individual, Farhad Baranzehi, who they said face imminent execution after proceedings allegedly marred by torture and forced confessions.
They said the cases formed part of a broader pattern of systematic repression against Iran’s Kurdish and Baloch minorities, including earlier death sentences imposed on Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi.
“Minorities, particularly those whose ethnic identity intersects with religious minority status, such as Sunni-Kurds and Yarsans, have been and continue to be targeted during periods of political and social unrest through narratives that portray them as threats to national security,” the experts said.
The experts also noted reports of increased arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of other ethnic minorities, including the Azeri community and minors.
They said the targeting of Kurdish and Baloch minorities extended beyond Iran’s borders through “campaigns of threats and surveillance” against people living abroad, describing this as a form of transnational repression.
According to the statement, Iranian authorities have seized the assets of hundreds of Iranians abroad and recently published a list of 37 Kurdish leaders and activists abroad, along with in absentia sentences and extradition requests.
The experts said counter-terrorism laws were also being misused both inside Iran and across borders against minorities.
They reminded Iran of its obligations under international human rights law, including the absolute prohibition of torture and enforced disappearance, the right to liberty and security, fair trial guarantees, protection against arbitrary deprivation of life, and equal treatment without discrimination.