OHCHR / IRAN HUMAN RIGHTS

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk “deplores the crackdown by Iranian authorities on dissent,” a human rights Spokesperson said, adding that office is “appalled that on top of the already severe impacts of the devastating Israeli US attacks on Iran, the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities in harsh and brutal ways.” OHCHR

• Video Length: 00:02:17
• Production Date: 29 April 2026
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS- UNHCHR
• Subject Topical: HUMAN RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: IRAN
• MAMS Id: 3562846
• Parent Id: 3562846
• Alternate Title: unifeed260429a

Description

STORY: OHCHR / IRAN HUMAN RIGHTS
TRT: 02:17
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS

DATELINE: 29 APRIL 2026, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Shotlist

1. Various shots, exterior, Palais Wilson, Headquarters of UN Human Rights on Geneva
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk deplores the crackdown by Iranian authorities on dissent. We are appalled that on top of the already severe impacts of the devastating Israeli US attacks on Iran, the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities in harsh and brutal ways. Since the 28th of February, at least 21 people have been executed and more than 4,000 arrested on national security related charges.
Dozens of prisoners have been transferred to unknown locations with no information on their fate. Among them human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. Conditions of detention are dire, with severe overcrowding, acute shortages of food, water and medicine. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nargis Mohammadi remains imprisoned under high-risk conditions, with her health reportedly worsening. The mass confiscation of assets is also being used as a tool of transnational repression and punishment, with authorities seizing assets of some 675 citizens, labeling them traitors to the homeland. A newly launched financial tracking system “Sahm” now enables courts and prosecutors nationwide to identify and seize assets electronically. Access to the internet in Iran has now been almost entirely shut down for 61 days, making it one of the most severe shutdowns ever recorded globally. This is denying people across the country access to vital information, silencing independent voices and inflicting enormous social and economic harm. It is already exacerbating a precarious humanitarian and economic situation. We call on the authorities to halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and to release immediately those arbitrarily detained.”
3. Various shots, exterior, Palais Wilson, Headquarters of UN Human Rights on Geneva

Storyline

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk “deplores the crackdown by Iranian authorities on dissent,” a human rights Spokesperson said, adding that office is “appalled that on top of the already severe impacts of the devastating Israeli US attacks on Iran, the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities in harsh and brutal ways.”

In a recorded statement, UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today (29 Apr) said, “since the 28th of February, at least 21 people have been executed and more than 4,000 arrested on national security related charges. Dozens of prisoners have been transferred to unknown locations with no information on their fate. Among them human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.”

She continued, “conditions of detention are dire, with severe overcrowding, acute shortages of food, water and medicine. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nargis Mohammadi remains imprisoned under high-risk conditions, with her health reportedly worsening.”

The human rights Spokesperson added, “the mass confiscation of assets is also being used as a tool of transnational repression and punishment, with authorities seizing assets of some 675 citizens, labeling them traitors to the homeland.”

“A newly launched financial tracking system ‘Sahm’ now enables courts and prosecutors nationwide to identify and seize assets electronically. Access to the internet in Iran has now been almost entirely shut down for 61 days, making it one of the most severe shutdowns ever recorded globally,” Shamdasani said, adding “this is denying people across the country access to vital information, silencing independent voices and inflicting enormous social and economic harm. It is already exacerbating a precarious humanitarian and economic situation.”

The UN human rights office called on the authorities to “halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and to release immediately those arbitrarily detained.”