The UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has highlighted the “continuing” targeting of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, despite the ceasefire.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Dr Mai Sato said “the use of national security charges to silence dissent … and the targeting of ethnic and religious minorities are patterns I have documented throughout my mandate— and they are continuing despite the ceasefire”.

Dr Sato said she echoed the words of the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, Volker Türk, who in a statement earlier on 29 April said “many detainees have been forcibly disappeared, tortured, or subjected to other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including coerced – and sometimes televised – confessions and mock executions”, and that members of religious and ethnic minorities were “at particular risk”.

Dr Sato called on the Iranian authorities to “halt executions, release those arbitrarily detained, and restore Internet access immediately”, saying the 61-day Internet shutdown had allowed “the State to monopolise the narrative” and made it “impossible to grasp the full human rights situation inside the country”.

Dr Türk said the Internet shutdown was “denying people across the country access to vital information, silencing independent voices, and inflicting enormous social and economic harm … exacerbating an already precarious humanitarian and economic situation, and must be lifted immediately”.

He called for the “immediate release” of those arbitrarily detained, saying that “core, non-derogable rights – such as protection against arbitrary detention, and the right to fair trial – must be respected absolutely, at all times”.

“Conditions of detention in Iran’s prisons are dire,” he added. “Detainees suffer from severe overcrowding and acute shortages of food, water, hygiene supplies, medicine and are denied medical care.”

At least 47 Christians are currently detained in Iran on charges related to their religious beliefs or activities.