Political repression in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Political repression has been exercised in Iran since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which led Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power and thus established an Islamic theocracy combining Islamic principles while maintaining its authoritarian policy imposed by the Pahlavi royal regime in the latter that was overthrown. The Islamic Republic has throughout its history used executions, massacres and torture against those perceived as potential dissidents. Survivors described being blindfolded, waiting in the corridors to be brought before the committee, and witnessing prisoners being taken to their executions, including those whose health had deteriorated due to torture. It has been alleged that these techniques are employed with the intent of silencing critics of the regime, especially female dissidents. In 2024, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran published a report that categorised the 1981–1982 massacres and 1988 executions as crimes against humanity and genocide.