UN human rights experts have urged Iran to halt the imminent executions of six political prisoners, citing allegations of torture, prolonged solitary confinement and unfair trials — claims Tehran denies.
Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, said on Wednesday in a post on X that she had written to the Iranian government in early September expressing “grave concern” over the cases.
The letter, co-signed by UN experts on enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, freedom of religion or belief and torture, cited reports of the six men's beatings, forced confessions and medical neglect in detention.
Their names are Babak Alipour, Vahid Bani Amerian, Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar, Pouya Ghobadi, Abolhassan Montazer and Seyyed Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi.
They were arrested between December 2023 and February 2024 for alleged links to the exiled People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and later sentenced to death by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court in November 2024, the experts said.
Several were allegedly held in solitary confinement for months and denied access to lawyers until trial day.
Tehran rejects report
The experts warned that “the judicial proceedings in all six cases did not fulfil the requirements for due process and a fair trial,” and that imposing the death penalty under such conditions would render the sentences arbitrary and unlawful under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Iran, in its October 24 response, rejected the allegations as “unsubstantiated,” defending the convictions as based on “confessions corroborated by material evidence.”
Iran said the defendants were represented by lawyers of their choice during the proceedings and were “treated in accordance with domestic law and international standards,” adding that prison transfers were made for “security and logistical reasons.”
'Halt executions'
Sato on Wednesday reiterated her call for Iran to stay the executions and launch impartial investigations into the torture allegations.
"The death penalty for baghi (armed rebellion) is unlawful under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which limits capital punishment to only the most serious crimes involving intentional killing,” Sato said.
"I urge the authorities to halt executions in these cases and to impose a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolition," she added.
Last month, Iran executed at least 241 prisoners were executed in one month— a nearly 50% rise compared to the same month last year — marking the highest monthly toll in two decades, according the Norway-based right group Hengaw.
US-based rights group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said at least 1,537 people were executed by hanging in Iran between October 2024 and October 2025, marking the highest figure in a decade.
Mostafa Pourdehghan, secretary of parliament’s Industries and Mines Committee, said talks with Telegram have been under way and that officials had hoped to restore access this week before differences delayed the step.
“We have received information indicating repeated consultations with Telegram’s managers,” he told Rouydad24. “Some colleagues at the Communications Ministry have unofficially told us Telegram will be unblocked soon.”
He framed removing the filtering as a public demand and said resistance was coming from outside the legislature, what he described as "VPN mafia."
“The financial turnover of VPNs is about 50 trillion tomans (about $450 million), and beneficiaries hide behind sacred slogans such as national security to profit from continued filtering,” he said.
Pourdehghan added that a parliamentary “investigation and inspection into the backstory of these pressures” is being advanced with the communications minister.
The debate has intensified amid reports of negotiations over conditions for lifting the 2018 ban on Telegram, which remains widely used via VPNs.
State-linked outlets have said Tehran wants commitments including cooperation with the judiciary on data requests, limits on content deemed to incite ethnic tensions, and measures against material considered to threaten national security.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has rejected reports that the government reached a deal with the platform.
“If a platform does not accept internal regulations, it will not receive a license,” he told lawmakers, calling reports of an agreement false.
President Masoud Pezeshkian campaigned on easing internet restrictions, but officials have said any change must be approved by the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and tied to compliance with domestic rules.
The arrest took place in the suburb of Risskov in cooperation with Denmark’s intelligence service PET and East Jutland Police. The man was detained under a German arrest warrant, and German officers were present during the operation, police said.
German prosecutors said the man is suspected of acting as a contact in a network tied to an Iranian intelligence operation. He allegedly tried to help obtain a weapon for another man who was arrested in June and accused of gathering information on Jewish sites in Berlin.
That earlier suspect, identified by German media as 53-year-old Ali S., a dual Afghan-Danish national, had secretly traveled to Iran after collecting surveillance material on Jewish institutions, according to German newspaper Bild. The report said he met a Quds Force officer in Tehran and handed over photos, videos, and details about possible targets, including Jewish community offices and restaurants.
Ali S. was arrested in Denmark in June and later extradited to Germany, where he faces charges of espionage and planning attacks for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
The newly arrested man, also of Afghan origin, is charged with attempted murder in Germany and will appear before a Danish court in Aarhus later on Wednesday for a custody hearing pending a decision on extradition, police said.
PET said the case reflects a broader pattern of Iranian intelligence activity in Europe, including efforts targeting Israeli and Jewish interests. PET chief Finn Borch Andersen said state-backed actors such as Iran pose an increasing threat. “We take this very seriously, especially given the use of intermediaries and criminal networks to plan violent acts,” he said.
Ali Seyedzadeh, the director general of the National Water and Wastewater Management Office, told state television that rainfall across Iran since the beginning of October totaled just 2.2 millimeters -- down 83% from last year and 77% below long-term averages.
“We are in an extremely concerning situation,” he said, warning that weather forecasts show no rain in the coming weeks.
He added that the decline has left reservoirs severely depleted, with major dams including those supplying Tehran, Isfahan, and Khuzestan operating at minimal levels.
Seyedzadeh said Tehran’s five main dams now hold less than 200 million cubic meters of water -- about one-third of their normal volume -- with the Amir Kabir Dam at only 8% of capacity and the Laar Dam at 1%.
He said nationwide water loss through aging pipelines is estimated at 15%, and called for urgent measures such as installing smart meters and water-saving devices in high-use households.
Looming water rationing in Tehran
Authorities in Tehran have warned that the capital could face water rationing within weeks as the city’s main reservoir, the Amir Kabir Dam, is nearing depletion.
Habibi, deputy head of Tehran’s Regional Water Company, said the Amir Kabir Dam -- one of the capital’s five main water sources -- holds only about 14 million cubic meters of water, compared to 86 million cubic meters a year ago.
“Only four or five million cubic meters remain extractable,” he told the semi-official Tasnim news agency. “We urgently need public cooperation to manage water consumption efficiently.”
“We hope to see precipitation later in the water year to make up the deficit,” Habibi said, adding that conservation “is the only short-term solution to protect Tehran’s limited water reserves.”
Officials said the dam is now 85% empty, describing the situation as critical. The company’s head, Behzad Parsa, told IRNA last week that the reservoir’s remaining capacity would cover less than two weeks of the city’s demand.
Tehran, home to nearly nine million people, depends on five dams -- all reporting sharp declines.
The Laar and Mamloo reservoirs are at 1% and 7% capacity respectively, while only Taleghan remains above one-third. Local newspaper Haft-e Sobh warned that if autumn rains fail to materialize, “widespread rationing and water cuts” could begin across the capital.
