London, 23 July 2025 — A coalition of 301 prominent figures—comprising international human rights experts, Nobel laureates, former UN officials, and political leaders—has issued a powerful plea to the United Nations to act swiftly in order to protect political prisoners in Iran and prevent a repeat of the country’s 1988 mass executions.
The urgent appeal, coordinated by the organization Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI), follows a troubling rise in death sentences and inflammatory rhetoric in Iran’s state-affiliated media advocating for mass executions.
A particularly concerning editorial published on 7 July 2025 by Fars News, a media outlet linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), glorified the 1988 mass killing of over 30,000 political prisoners as a “successful historical experience” and explicitly called for similar actions to be taken against today’s detainees.
The signatories, representing over 60 nations, caution that “the risk of another mass atrocity, reminiscent of the 1988 massacre, is alarmingly real.” They are calling on Dr. Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, and member states to strongly denounce such incitements and take immediate preventive measures.