Many Iranian journalists and activists abroad have begun to treat state intimidation and harassment as part of daily life, UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Mai Sato said on Tuesday, criticizing the persistence of what she called Iran's transnational repression.
“What once felt dangerous has become routine. For many, normalizing these threats is no longer a choice" said Sato on a social media post written in Persian on X.
A group of United Nations human rights experts joined Sato in a statement in August saying threats and harassment of BBC Persian and Iran International journalists have surged since a 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.
Journalists abroad and their families inside Iran have faced death threats, surveillance, and smear campaigns, while some relatives have been interrogated, detained, or had their passports confiscated.
They said women journalists face particularly violent gender-based harassment, both online and through intimidation of their relatives inside Iran.
Iran International filed an urgent appeal in August with the experts urging them to take action against Iran over serious risks to the lives and safety of their journalists worldwide and relatives inside Iran.
UN experts said several UK-based journalists have required police protection, with some forced to move into safe houses or relocate abroad.
The experts said such actions violate fundamental rights including freedom of expression, privacy, and personal security, urging Tehran to halt all intimidation and investigate the attacks.
Sato added that Iranian journalists and activists told her they had “normalized” living under constant threat, redefining what it means to feel safe. That normalization, she warned, has led to self-censorship, withdrawal from public life and in some cases, abandoning their work entirely.
“Many journalists and human-rights defenders I spoke with have begun to normalize transnational repression — they see constant threats, phishing attempts, and cyberattacks as part of daily life," said Sato.
Her comments follow similar findings by the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, which reported at least 15 Iranian-linked kidnapping or assassination attempts in Britain since 2022.
Iran’s government has denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated.
In its response to the UN, Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva described BBC Persian and Iran International as “propaganda outlets” and said any actions taken against them were lawful measures to protect national security.
Rights groups had previously reported that the child, identified as Zolfaghar Sharafi, was killed by direct police fire. New information suggests that officers left the scene without assisting the wounded boy or his family.
The sources said police allegedly opened fire after stopping the vehicle for lacking a license plate, injuring Zolfaghar and his younger sister, Tahani.
They said the officers then departed, leaving the injured family by the roadside. The boy died at the scene from heavy bleeding after failing to receive medical treatment in time.
Tahani, who sustained gunshot wounds to her arms and pelvis, was later taken to Ahvaz Golestan Hospital, where the cause of injury was recorded as a “conflict with the state,” according to sources.
Her family was told to pay 150 million tomans (around $1,400) for surgery, which was delayed for three days due to financial hardship before being performed at another hospital.
The sources, citing statements by government officials, said that the officers involved in the shooting have been arrested, but no information has yet been released about their identities or current status.
Rights organizations have documented repeated incidents of security forces firing at civilian vehicles in recent years, often resulting in the deaths of passengers, including children.
The killing of Zolfaghar Sharafi adds to a growing list of minors allegedly shot by security personnel in various provinces, incidents that have rarely led to public accountability.
Speaking at her weekly press briefing, Fatemeh Mohajerani said, “Hijab cannot be restored to society by force... The president has repeatedly said that we certainly cannot bring hijab back to people through coercion.”
She added that the government respects all existing laws but emphasized that social norms should be upheld through cultural engagement rather than force.
Mohajerani added that the government seeks to prevent the hijab debate from deepening social divisions.
“We must ensure,” she said, “that defending social values does not come at the cost of dividing our people.”
“We are a Muslim society,” she pointed out. “We must take care not to create divisions. While we believe inappropriate public behavior should be addressed, it is something that requires the cooperation of all citizens.”
Her remarks came after Tehran’s Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice headquarters said this month that 80,000 trained volunteers would be deployed across the capital as part of a new “hijab and chastity situation room.”
The initiative, announced by conservative officials, will rely on local monitoring and cooperation with cyber police and prosecutors.
No extra budget for hijab enforcement
Mohajerani also denied that any dedicated funding had been assigned for the recently announced mobilization, saying that “no special budget has been allocated for such programs.”
She added that Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) -- headed by the president -- remained the ultimate authority on matters related to social order and security.
The new hijab enforcement drive has drawn concern among reformist politicians and clerics who warn that policing public behavior risks further division.
Cleric Abdolkarim Behjatpour, a senior member of Iran’s Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought, told ILNA news agency this week that if the campaign “turns into arrests and imprisonment, it will harm the system.”
He said moral guidance “must be delivered politely, with compassion and dignity, not through enforcement that creates social rifts.”
Another senior cleric and member of the Society of Seminary Teachers in Qom, Mohsen Faghihi, said on Tuesday that “inviting people to observe hijab should not involve confrontation, morality patrols, or imprisonment,” warning that such measures only create tension and division.
However, Abbas Ka'bi, a senior cleric and member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, warned earlier this week against what he described as neglect over hijab enforcement, calling it a religious and legal duty of all state institutions.
He described hijab as an asset "protecting Iran’s Islamic identity from Western moral decline," and urged coordinated, well-planned action by cultural, security, and judicial bodies to prevent what he called the spread of immorality.
Since the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police, enforcing compulsory hijab has become increasingly difficult, and the state’s ability to impose the rules has sharply eroded, particularly in major cities.
Since then, many women have continued to appear unveiled in public despite warnings, fines, and the return of hijab patrol vans, turning defiance into a daily act of resistance.
In recent months, however, authorities have revived enforcement drives through mobile patrol vans, increased fines, and business closures targeting cafés and shops accused of noncompliance.
Judiciary spokesman Ali-Asghar Jahangir said earlier this month that hijab laws remain in force, though enforcement methods have shifted toward targeting businesses rather than individuals.
“The foreign minister announced that Ms. Esfandiari was placed in the exchange framework, and we have prepared a political and consular package that both countries must carry out,” Jalalzadeh said.
“We hope this will happen soon and that we will see Ms. Esfandiari back in our beloved country.”
Jalalzadeh said Iran had pursued legal and consular measures in Esfandiari’s case, including appointing a lawyer and holding ten consular meetings since her detention.
He accused France of holding her over “support for the Palestinian people,” saying her case was politically motivated.
Esfandiari, a student in Lyon, was arrested earlier this year over social media posts that prosecutors said violated counterterrorism laws.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei also said on Monday that Iran was seriously pursuing the issue of detainees with France and that “both sides have the necessary will to resolve it,” according to state media.
Similar remarks were made in September, when Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television that talks on a prisoner swap with France were “in their final stages.”
The comments came amid continuing diplomatic friction between Tehran and Paris over detained nationals in both countries.
France last week condemned lengthy prison sentences handed to citizens Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who were convicted in Iran of espionage. French officials called the charges baseless and their detention arbitrary.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said there were “strong prospects” for bringing the two home following a meeting last month between President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in New York.
Iranian officials have suggested that Esfandiari’s case could be part of a broader dialogue with France on consular matters, but no timetable has been announced.
