Mai Sato links the legacy of Mahsa Amini to ongoing repression, executions, and entrenched discrimination in Iran, underscoring urgent need for international attention.

On September 16, 2025, Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, marked the third anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death with a strong statement highlighting the ongoing repression of women, minorities, and dissidents under Iran’s ruling system.

Sato paid tribute to Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman whose death in custody sparked nationwide protests in 2022. “Today we remember Jina Mahsa Amini, the Iranian Kurdish woman whose death, three years ago, and whose courage touched millions and sparked a movement centered on women’s rights and freedoms,” Sato said. “As her family inscribed on her tombstone, her name has become a symbol.”

Despite the global outcry since 2022, Sato warned that little has changed. “After three years, many unresolved issues remain regarding women’s rights in Iran, and much work is required to improve the situation,” she stated, noting that discriminatory laws and practices continue to govern the lives of women and girls. She pointed to the newly passed “Family Protection by Promoting the Culture of Chastity and Hijab” law, which remains unenforced, reflecting divisions within the regime, but stressed that mandatory veiling laws are still enforced under the penal code.

Sato emphasized that restrictions extend far beyond dress codes. Iranian women continue to face systemic discrimination in healthcare, marriage, inheritance, travel, and many other aspects of life. Meanwhile, executions persist, including those of men arrested during the 2022 protests. “The rights of Iranian women, girls, and their allies still demand our constant attention and action,” she urged.

This latest statement builds on Sato’s first official report to the UN Human Rights Council, delivered in Geneva on March 18, 2025, which documented a deeply troubling pattern of abuses across Iran.

Special Rapporteur on Iran presents first report to UN Human Rights Council

That report highlighted the extraordinary rise in executions, with more than 900 cases reported in 2024, making Iran the world’s highest per capita user of the death penalty. Half of those executions were linked to drug-related offences, while others stemmed from broadly defined national security charges. “The absence of official demographic data on executions, combined with documented patterns of discrimination within the criminal justice system, raises serious concerns,” Sato warned. She stressed that women activists and ethnic minorities are disproportionately targeted by the death penalty.

Sato’s report further documented 179 cases of femicide in 2024 and criticized Iran’s legal framework for treating so-called “honor killings” with leniency. “Iran’s legal system creates a dangerous hierarchy of violence that legitimises lethal violence against women,” she said.

Her findings also revealed widespread repression of free expression and association. The detention and sentencing of labor leaders, cultural activists, journalists, and human rights defenders, she argued, has created a chilling effect across society.

While acknowledging that Iran has made progress in areas such as education, Sato stressed that these gains have not translated into economic or political empowerment for women. She noted that Iran ranks 121 out of 193 countries on the UNDP’s gender inequality index—the lowest position among high-human development countries.

The Special Rapporteur concluded both her March report and her September statement by reiterating her readiness to engage with Iranian authorities, including an invitation to visit the country.

Her consistent message, however, underscores the same core reality: despite international attention and domestic resilience, the systemic abuse of women, minorities, and dissidents continues to define the human rights landscape in Iran.

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