March 6, 2025 – Geneva – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, has issued a stark warning about the growing use of hostage-taking by states, naming the regime in Iran as one of several governments that detain foreign and dual nationals on fabricated or exaggerated charges to gain diplomatic leverage.
In her report to the Human Rights Council, Edwards found that at least 66 cases of state hostage-taking have been reported in Iran since 2010. She warned that journalists, aid workers, academics, business travelers, and human rights defenders are particularly vulnerable to these detentions. “Hostage-taking is cruelty – plain and simple – and almost always involves torture,” she said.
Victims of state hostage-taking in Iran are often subjected to psychological coercion, physical abuse, and prolonged solitary confinement, Edwards noted. Some survivors have reported starvation, mock executions, and sexual torture, leaving them with lifelong trauma. “Hostage-taking is an affront to human dignity,” she stated, highlighting how detainees are deliberately mistreated to extract better concessions from foreign governments.
An overview of #Iran’s history of hostage-taking and how Western appeasement has fueled Tehran’s #terrorismhttps://t.co/ieaaOkZb6y
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 19, 2023
The report listed Iran alongside China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, the UAE, and Venezuela as countries engaged in politically motivated detentions. Edwards called for stronger enforcement, criminalization, and accountability, urging governments to use universal jurisdiction, targeted sanctions, and ICC investigations against perpetrators.
“We cannot allow hostage-taking to become an accepted tool of diplomacy or warfare. The time to act is now,” she declared.
Edwards also urged the UN Secretary-General to appoint a Special Representative on hostage-taking and recommended that governments assign senior liaison officers to keep families informed on efforts to secure their loved ones’ release.