On June 13, Israel carried out large-scale attacks targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities and the top command of the military. Senior commanders and scientists lost their lives in these attacks. On June 24, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire, the Iranian Ministry of Health reported on June 25 that 627 civilians had died and 5,332 were injured in the attacks. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office stated that 28 people were killed and 1,272 injured during Iranian military retaliations.

 

During the conflict and afterwards, despite limited access, human rights organizations frequently reported various violations such as arbitrary arrests, executions, and internet restriction, calling on the international community to respond.

 

ARRESTS AND EXECUTIONS

 

Speaking to Mezopotamya Agency (MA) about the human rights violations, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said detentions and arrests have taken place since the beginning of the attacks. Amiry-Moghaddam noted that Iranian officials announced over 700 people were arrested on charges of “espionage,” but due to severe internet restrictions, they could not verify this information. According to the information they have, citizens are often stopped at checkpoints and arrested for having photos or videos related to Israeli attacks on their phones. They have also received reports that political activists unrelated to the attacks were detained at their homes.

 

Amiry-Moghaddam said: “Even by Iranian officials’ own reports, over 200 people were arrested during the days of war for crimes that cannot be defined as collaboration with Israel or espionage. These include charges such as insulting leaders and communicating with foreign media. We can say the repression intensified during the war and continued afterwards.”

 

He added that six people were executed within 12 days on charges of “espionage” or “collaboration” with Israel, while over ten others were executed for other crimes such as “drug trafficking” or “murder.” 

 

EVIN PRISON

 

On June 23, Evin Prison in Tehran was heavily damaged by Israeli airstrikes. Amnesty International called on Iran to protect the prisoners, describing the attack as a war crime. Amiry-Moghaddam stated that many people were affected by the prison attacks and some lost their lives: "Some of them were the staff of the Evin prison, the guards, and also some prisoners. We don't know anything about the names of the prisoners who were killed or the charges. Some unconfirmed reports indicate that some of them were in prison for financial offenses. And there were also some transgender people among those who were killed in that attack. Following the attack, prisoners were chained together, several of them with chains connected together, or at least two and two. And despite the war situation, they were transferred to another prison, which is called the Big Tehran Prison. They have been kept there in wards with small capacity. During the transport and also before the transport, the guards used violence."

 

‘THE BIGGEST THREAT IS THE CITIZENS WANTING CHANGE’

 

Amiry-Moghaddam highlighted increased repression against members of Iran’s Jewish community and Afghan nationals, noting that many Afghans are subjected to mass arrests and forced deportations. He emphasized that accusations in Iranian media claiming many Israeli weapons were smuggled into the country by Kurdish and Baloch porters have led to increased repression against Kurds and Balochs.

 

He continued: “I think it's very important to keep in mind that the biggest threat to the Islamic Republic, to the Iranian authorities, it's not the Israeli spies. It's Iranian citizens who want the change.We have seen that the opposition towards the authorities is much bigger and more organized in Kurdish areas, in Balochistan. So the aim of this repression is to prevent new protests because people have been dealing with a regime that is repressive, it is incompetent to solve people's daily problems, and it is highly corrupt. But now, in addition, after this war, they have also demonstrated their incompetence in even protecting the country. They have been spending billions on missiles, on the nuclear program, and they demonstrated their incompetence also there. So the Islamic Republic is at its weakest point. And if new protests break out, it's impossible to know whether they will manage to control it. So that's why they are trying to prevent it by intensifying the repression. ”

 

THE PURPOSE AND EFFECTS OF THE NEW LAW

 

Amiry-Moghaddam said the recently adopted law in Iran, “Bill to Intensify the Punishment of Spies and Collaborators with the Zionist Regime and Hostile States,” aims to make it easier for courts to hand down death sentences. 

 

He explained: “normally they force people to confess that they have had direct communication with Israelis. But now, according to this war, the definition can be expanded so that even activities on social media or citizen journalism can be defined as what they call 'corruption on earth', and they can issue death penalty for that. It's part of this intensification of the repression. And the aim is, of course, to instill fear in the society.”

 

Amiry-Moghaddam also noted increased repression against Iran’s Jewish community and Bahá’ís. He said Iranian media has launched a propaganda campaign claiming Bahá’ism is not a religion and that all Bahá’ís are spies, preparing the ground for more arrests, arbitrary harassment, and even killings.

 

THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

 

Amiry-Moghaddam said that human rights organizations document human rights abuses that the international community overlooks, forcing society to react: “The focus of the international community, especially countries with diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic, must be human rights, must be situation of the prisoners, the death penalty, these arbitrary arrests." 

 

Amiry-Moghaddam concluded: "It's the people inside the country to bring about the change. So we are not expecting a foreign country to come and bring the change for us. But what international community can do is to raise the political cost of the repression by having it on the agenda. For example, now, if the European countries want to start their relations or resume their relations with the Islamic Republic, they can put conditions and those conditions must be based on the situation of human rights, and not the nuclear issue as it has always been."

 

MA / Hîvda Çelebî