According to Iranian government figures, 276 civilians were among the dead, including 38 children and 102 women, and more than 5,600 people were injured. Civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities and schools, was damaged.
The Government also reported that the famous Evin prison in Tehran was attacked without warning.
Iranian Red Crescent teams search for survivors after Israeli airstrike.
About 80 people died, including prisoners, family members (the attack occurred during visiting hours), staff and at least one child. The prison then housed about 1,500 inmates, including many human rights defenders and activists.
Hossain also expressed alarm at Iran’s response, which included missile attacks on Israel, which authorities said left 31 dead and more than 3,300 injured.
Sara Hossain, chair of the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, reports to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
‘Systemic attack against a civilian population’
The fallout from the attacks, he said, led to an internal crackdown by the Iranian government that has further eroded respect for the right to life.
Investigators appointed by the Human Rights Council have documented the arrest of thousands of people, including lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and those expressing their opinions about the conflict on social media.
This year there has been an increase in executions in Iran, reaching the highest level recorded since 2015.
Most of the death penalty cases investigated by the mission appear to contravene international human rights law. Legislation was approved that expands the use of the death penalty for “espionage” and penalizes the publication of content on social networks that the Government considers “false information.”
“If executions are part of a widespread and systemic attack against a civilian population, as a matter of policy, then Those responsible – including judges who impose capital punishment – can be held responsible for crimes against humanity”said Fact-Finding Mission human rights expert Max du Plessis.
The recent crackdown has also affected ethnic and religious minorities, with more than 330 Kurds and a large number of Arabs arrested, and hundreds of thousands of Afghans deported, researchers reported.
Members of the Bahá’í religious minority have been accused of being “Zionist spies” and some were arrested in home raids and their assets confiscated.
Impunity for ‘honour killings’
In recent months, the persistence of other serious forms of violence has been reported, including cases of feminicide (the intentional killing of women and girls because of their gender).
The Mission received credible information that there have been 60 such cases between March and September 2025. “Honor killings” and other forms of gender-based violence, the mission reported, are committed with impunity.
Businesses serving women who refuse to comply with mandatory hijab laws have reportedly been closed and surveillance has been intensified. Reports also indicate that the “morality police” have recently returned to patrolling the streets.
The Fact-Finding Mission has documented increasing cases of transnational repression, including interrogations, threats and surveillance of families of Iranian journalists abroad. It has received credible information indicating that more than 45 media workers in seven countries have faced credible threats.
“Acts of denial of justice are not neutral,” Hossain said. “Failure to address injustice prolongs the suffering of victims and undermines the State’s obligations under international human rights law to ensure accountability, truth, justice and reparations..”
‘The rights to life and liberty under unprecedented threat’
In her report to the General Assembly, the independent human rights expert on Iran, Mai Sato, condemned the attacks by Israel and the United States as unlawful uses of force in violation of the United Nations Charter, while expressing deep concern that the end of hostilities had brought no relief to the people of Iran.
“External aggression has fueled deeper internal repression,” he said. “The Iranian people’s rights to life and liberty are under unprecedented threat.” Ms. Saito described the rise in executions as a deliberate policy of fear and retaliation, noting that many executions followed unfair trials or vague national security accusations.
The Special Rapporteur, who is not a UN staff member and does not receive a salary for her work, also highlighted a growing pattern of transnational repression, in which Iranian authorities target dissidents abroad through intimidation, surveillance and threats, and called on other UN Member States to support at-risk Iranian civil society actors and coordinate efforts to counter transnational repression.