Iran Human Rights Violations Update: 9/23/26

In the two months since JINSA published its last Iran Human Rights Violations Update, the Iranian regime has continued its crackdown on protesters and minorities, suggesting it still feels vulnerable to internal dissent. The government sentenced at least 21 people to death and executed at least seven others, including two publicly, for participating in January’s anti-regime protests. It also executed three other men for allegedly spying for the United States and Israel during the 2025 and 2026 wars, while Iranian courts sentenced another woman to death simply for sending a picture of a missile impact site to a foreign news outlet.

Fearing another protest outbreak, security forces deployed to several Iranian cities around the fourth anniversary of the regime’s morality police murdering 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, for improperly wearing her hijab in 2022. Meanwhile, the regime still seeks to control women’s appearances, with security forces and those suspected of working for them harassing unveiled women and renewing existing hijab mandates at universities across the country as more women publicly unveil in attempts to defy the government’s authority.

Regime forces also continued to target ethnic and religious minorities, demonstrating their fear of any potential insider threats, as it accuses many minorities, particularly Baha’i citizens, of collaborating with the United States and Israel. They arrested over 100 Kurdish citizens without providing a reason for their arrests or any information on their conditions and whereabouts. Their arrests came as border forces shot at least seven Kurdish kolbars—individuals who carry goods on their backs across borders—killing four of them, without providing any reason or warning. Security forces also arrested 16 Baha’i citizens without reason or on security-related charges, while at least 13 others were sentenced for promoting the Baha’i faith. Furthermore, regime forces killed at least seven Baloch citizens and detained eight others without reason, as more than 24 Sunni Arab citizens were detained, including several while they prayed privately.