Against the backdrop of a dramatic surge in state-sanctioned executions in Iran and a landmark resolution by the United Nations Third Committee, a high-level conference was convened in Geneva on November 20, 2025. The event brought together distinguished European lawmakers, former United Nations special rapporteurs, legal experts, and Iranian activists to address the deteriorating human rights situation under the clerical regime.
The conference served as a platform to denounce the “killing machine” of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and to advocate for a decisive shift in international policy. Speakers unanimously rejected the policy of appeasement, calling instead for a “Third Option”: supporting the Iranian people’s desire for regime change and recognizing their organized resistance movement.
The gathering focused heavily on the alarming statistics regarding capital punishment in Iran, the legacy of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, and the necessity of referring the regime’s dossier to the UN Security Council.
Maryam Rajavi: The Slaughter is Khamenei’s War Against the People
The keynote address was delivered by Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Mrs. Rajavi framed the current wave of violence not merely as judicial malpractice, but as a strategic war waged by a fragile dictatorship against its own population.
Mrs. Rajavi highlighted the grim reality inside Iran’s penitentiaries, describing a “bloodbath unfolding inside Iran’s prisons.” She provided stark statistics to illustrate the escalation of violence: while 865 people were hanged two years ago and one thousand the previous year, the regime has already executed 1,650 individuals in 2025. She emphasized that thousands more await execution, including political prisoners such as Zahra Tabari and Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.
Message to the Human rights Conference in Geneva
Amid the ongoing executions and killings inside Iran’s prisons, your conference carries exceptional significance.
Two years ago, the ruling clerics hanged 865 people. Last year, one thousand were executed, and this year, to this… pic.twitter.com/G6GkACqhDy— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) November 20, 2025
Addressing the lawmakers of the Geneva Grand Council and the Swiss National Council, Mrs. Rajavi welcomed the recent UN General Assembly Third Committee resolution, which notably referred to the 1988 massacre. She linked this diplomatic progress to the July 2024 report by former UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman, which classified the 1980s executions as genocide and crimes against humanity.
Mrs. Rajavi drew a direct line between domestic repression and regional instability. “This ongoing slaughter is part of a unified strategy, which also includes waging war, exporting terror, and expanding nuclear weapons,” she stated. “As long as this regime can continue executions, it will also pursue a policy of destabilizing the region and the world.”
Her policy recommendations were clear and urgent. She called on the United Nations to free human rights mechanisms from the “chains of commerce and appeasement” and to formally refer the regime’s human rights dossier to the UN Security Council. Furthermore, she demanded that the regime be forced to grant UN officials access to Iranian prisons.
“This slaughter is Khamenei’s war against the people of Iran, and a test for the international community,” Mrs. Rajavi declared, concluding with a vision of inevitability regarding the regime’s downfall: “Just as the notorious Saydnaya prison of the Syrian dictatorship collapsed last December, Evin and other notorious prisons of Khamenei will also collapse.”
Expert Testimony: Unveiling Atrocity Crimes
Professor Javaid Rehman, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Iran, whose mandate concluded in July 2024, provided a harrowing account of the escalation in state violence. He described the current atmosphere as the most intense wave of executions since the mass killings of 1988. “In 2025 alone, over 1,500 individuals have reportedly already been put to death with at least 17 political detainees facing imminent executions solely for their association with the political and democratic opposition,” Rehman reported.
He detailed specific cases, noting that on July 27, 2025, political prisoners Mehdi Hasani and Behrouz Hassani were executed for supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). He also alerted the audience to the imminent danger facing boxing champion Mohammed Javad Vafaei Sani.
Significantly, Rehman highlighted the regime’s brazen attempts to erase history. He noted that in August 2025, Tehran’s deputy mayor confirmed that Section 41 of Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery, a mass grave site for victims of the 1988 massacre, had been converted into a parking lot. He characterized the regime’s actions as “rooted in a culture of impunity fueled by the failure of the international community.”
“The regime has weaponized the death penalty and mass executions as an instrument of repression and fear, exterminating all those challenging this brutality,” Rehman stated. He urged the establishment of an international accountability mechanism to prosecute these “atrocity crimes.”
Exclusive – On the sidelines of today’s conference in Geneva on human rights in Iran, Prof. Jeremy Sarkin, former UN Chair-Rapporteur, told Simay Azadi: “The 1988 massacre remains on the minds of many people. It’s time for the international community to step up its activities,… pic.twitter.com/VwjsfrpMPA
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) November 20, 2025
Opening the conference, Jean-Charles Rielle, former President of the Grand Council of Geneva, emphasized the symbolic importance of Geneva as the birthplace of international humanitarian law. He condemned the executions in Iran not as judicial acts, but as political tools designed to terrorize society. “We have been informed that recently, young people and political prisoners have been executed solely for exercising their right to protest or express their opinion,” Rielle noted.
Rielle called on parliamentarians to move beyond rhetoric. He demanded official condemnations, diplomatic pressure, and targeted sanctions. He also articulated a specific expectation for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: to demand an immediate halt to executions and to send an independent mission to inspect Iranian prisons, particularly those housing women.
Expressing solidarity with the resistance, he paid tribute to Mrs. Rajavi’s tireless efforts. “Tirelessly, Madame Maryam Rajavi fights to be a true alternative for a democratic Iran that respects its people,” he said.
Former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order Alfred de Zayas focused on the mechanisms available to the international community to bypass gridlock and seek justice. He proposed utilizing the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, noting that while the 1988 massacre predates the Rome Statute, the “continuous” nature of these crimes since 2002 allows them to be prosecuted as crimes against humanity under Article 7.
De Zayas also strongly advocated for the use of universal jurisdiction, citing precedents in Sweden and Germany. “If one of these torturers is found in a civilized country, we can arrest him and put him before the court,” he argued. He called on the current Special Rapporteur, Professor Mai Sato, to demand an immediate halt to executions and to forward a request to the ICC prosecutor.
He emphasized that the battle is also political, requiring the dissemination of information to counter the regime’s narrative. “It is necessary to win the information war,” de Zayas concluded.
Yesterday the UNGA Third Committee adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in Iran which, for the first time, references the #1988Massacre, the first official acknowledgement by the global community of those crimes against humanity.
It's time to end impunity in Iran. https://t.co/G0aHsZTORe pic.twitter.com/m4Q8oSWYYJ
— Justice for the Victims of 1988 Massacre in Iran (@jvmifoundation) November 20, 2025
Tahar Boumedra, former Head of UNAMI’s Human Rights Office and President of JVMI, celebrated the tactical victory achieved the previous day at the UN Third Committee, where a resolution passed that, for the first time, utilized language indicating serious concern over the situation in Iran and identified the IRGC and judicial system as responsible parties.
“This is a resolution that has now paved the way for us to undertake work to identify those responsible for the abuses,” Boumedra explained. He stressed that the 1988 fatwa issued by Khomeini remains valid and unrepealed, necessitating continued vigilance.
Acknowledging the paralysis of the Security Council due to veto powers, Boumedra reinforced the call for states to exercise universal jurisdiction. “We must identify them. Who is committing these crimes? And hold them responsible by means that we will be able to implement,” he urged.
Former Mayor of Geneva Rémy Pagani drew sharp historical parallels between the Iranian regime’s use of hangings and the tactics of the Nazis, describing the death penalty in this context as a weapon to control opposition. “The death penalty as such solves nothing, quite the opposite. It goes against humanity,” Pagani asserted.
He placed a heavy responsibility on civil society to break the silence surrounding political prisoners. By writing letters and speaking out, citizens can strip the regime of the anonymity it craves for its victims. “It is our responsibility as citizens to be able to bring these people who are in prisons, and notably in Iran, out of anonymity,” he said.
Pagani also touched upon the geopolitical dangers of allowing the regime to persist, warning of “neo-colonialism” and expansionist aims in the Middle East. He concluded with a hope that the Iranian dictatorship would be swept away like others before it.
Simay Azadi’s exclusive interview with Swiss lawmaker @FehlmannRielle. "Switzerland should put pressure on the Iranian regime to stop executions." pic.twitter.com/lAvmfyNZrO
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) November 22, 2025
Laurence Fellman Rielle, Swiss Member of Parliament, criticized the inadequacy of “behind-the-scenes diplomacy,” which the Swiss Federal Council often cites as its approach to Iran. She argued that such methods have failed to curb the violence, citing the execution of 37 women and several minors among the 1,650 killed in the first nine months of 2025.
Her speech highlighted the central role of women in the resistance. “The Iranian regime fears the driving role of women in the Resistance,” she observed, noting that women are demanding not just the removal of the compulsory veil but the abrogation of all discriminatory laws.
She specifically championed the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign currently active in 54 Iranian prisons and highlighted the plight of Zahra Tabari, a political prisoner sentenced to death for sympathizing with the PMOI. She echoed calls for a UN special mission to inspect women’s prisons, such as Qarchak in Varamin.
Jeremy Sarkin, former Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, focused on the dual issues of the death penalty and enforced disappearances. He noted that while the global trend is moving toward abolition—with 130 countries supporting a UN moratorium—Iran stands in stark contrast, executing more people in 2024 and 2025 than ever before.
Sarkin defined capital punishment in the Iranian context not as criminal justice, but as “a form of state violence” and a violation of human dignity. He also elaborated on the legal concept of enforced disappearance as a “continuous crime,” meaning the crime continues as long as the fate or whereabouts of the victim remain concealed.
He pointed out that the UN Working Group has requested to visit Iran every year since 2004, but dates have never been agreed upon by the regime. He stressed that mass burial sites from 1988 remain concealed, constituting an ongoing crime against humanity.
Voices of the Resistance: Defiance from the Frontlines
A crucial segment of the conference was dedicated to Iranian activists who provided a view from the ground, articulating the resolve of the Iranian street and the Resistance Units.
Hossein Imani Nejad, an engineer and activist, dismantled the regime’s narrative regarding the surge in executions. He argued that the mullahs do not fear war or appeasement; rather, “What they truly fear is a popular uprising supported by a well-organized resistance.” He described the 1,500 executions in 2025 as the regime’s “main weapon” and “last weapon” to maintain power.
Nejad emphasized that the regime labels political dissenters as drug offenders or spies to disguise the political nature of the purge. However, he expressed confidence in the current generation, stating, “The only acceptable outcome for this generation is the uprooting of this regime in every aspect.”
A good day in Iranian history thanks to the tireless work of the Iranian Resistance. A big step forward in bringing those responsible for the 1988 massacre to justice. May the souls of the martyrs of 1988 rest in power ✊♥️#1988Massacre #StopExecutionsInIran https://t.co/53FB76xrpA
— Neda Amani (@NedaAmani_CH) November 19, 2025
Neda Amani, head of the Association of Young Iranians in Switzerland and the event’s moderator, underscored the continuity of the struggle. Speaking for the youth diaspora and families of victims, she endorsed the NCRI’s demand for the UN Security Council to take up the Iranian file.
“For me and for the other families of victims present here today, this demand is just, necessary, and long overdue,” Amani stated. She linked the day’s conference directly to the “tireless work of the Iranian Resistance,” which has documented crimes for decades to reach this moment of international recognition.
A Call for the Third Option
The Geneva conference concluded with a consensus that the international community stands at a crossroads. The speakers effectively dismantled the viability of engaging with the clerical regime, portraying such attempts as fueling the machinery of execution and terror.
The recurring theme of the “Third Option”—a strategy that relies neither on foreign military intervention nor on concessions to the mullahs, but rather on the organized resistance of the Iranian people—resonated throughout the proceedings. By highlighting the staggering execution numbers of 2025 and the unbroken line of atrocities from 1988 to the present, the conference made a compelling case that the only path to stability and human rights in Iran lies in the establishment of a democratic republic.
As the UN Third Committee’s resolution signals a shift in global awareness, the Geneva conference laid out the necessary next steps: the referral of human rights violations to the Security Council, the activation of universal jurisdiction against regime officials, and unwavering support for the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the dictatorship.