Human rights experts and former political prisoners share a somber view of Iran today
Introduction
By Susan A. Hughes
February 27, 2026
According to Iranian experts and former activist and prisoners, key issues—gender-based oppression, mass killings, and prison abuses—paint a somber picture of the human rights crisis unfolding today in Iran.
At a webinar hosted by the Institute of Politics’ John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, experts shared their insights into each of these areas to explain what is happening in Iran and the implications for the region. This timely discussion comes when President Trump increases his threat of a war with Iran, most recently at the State of the Union address, where he declared that Iran has developed missiles that “could reach the United States.”
Jared Genser MPP 1998, an international human rights lawyer, moderated the discussion. The panelists included Hadi Ghaemi, executive director for the Center for Human Rights in Iran; Morad Tahbaz, an environmentalist and former political prisoner; Neda Bolourchi, executive director for Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans and historian at Rutgers University; and Siamak Namazi, an Iranian American businessman who endured 2,898 days of captivity in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison.
The Forum was co-sponsored by the Carr Ryan Center for Human Rights, and Mathias Risse, Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights, Global Affairs and Philosophy and director of the center, gave an impassioned introduction.
“Iran is notorious for its prisons,” said Risse, “especially Evin Prison in Tehran, where the regime sends courageous individuals who defy its overbearing power, including our panelist Siamak Namazi.”
But it was a woman not at the Forum that Risse wanted to acknowledge.
Narges Mohammadi is the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center. She has been a vocal proponent of mass feminist civil disobedience in Iran, and an equally vocal critic of hijab and chastity programs.
“Narges has been imprisoned since 2016, reporting on the abuse and solitary confinement of detained women,” said Risse. In 2023, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her “fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
Gender-based discrimination and suppression of women’s rights
Bolourchi also described how Iranian women have led acts of civil disobedience, particularly against compulsory hijab laws, since 1979. “My own research from the Woman, Life, Freedom Movement has examined how the state increasingly classifies individuals not as rights-bearing citizens but as categories,” said Bolourchi. “There are ‘security defenders’ on one side, and ‘foreign agents,’ as dissenting women are called, on the other.” Iranians categorized as foreign agents are being denied human rights, she said.
For women, said Bolourchi, this reflects systemic discrimination and suppression of autonomy and equal citizenship by:
- Criminalizing resistance to dress codes
- Targeting feminist activists
- Using detention and imprisonment to silence women
- Reclassifying dissenting women as “foreign agents” or security threats
Mass killings and crimes against humanity
Ghaemi described the premeditated and systematic massacre of 20,000–30,000 civilians over two nights in January, including families and children. He noted that the last such massacre of Iranian citizens occurred over 230 years ago.
“For Iranians, who are a very proud people, this kind of event is a complete historical shock,” said Ghaemi. The killings were characterized as deliberate, widespread, and potentially constituting crimes against humanity. The scale and intentionality, he said, raise profound concerns about the right to life and state violence against civilians.
“The way the country and its economy, politics, and society have been brought to the edge of abyss, and the way its own citizens have been massacred and treated as sub-citizens who do not have universal rights, means the regime is now seen as a foreign-invading presence,” said Ghaemi. “It’s our responsibility to uproot it.”
"For Iranians, who are a very proud people, this kind of event [the massacre of thousands of protesters] is a complete historical shock." – Hadi Ghaemi
Political imprisonment and prison abuse
Namazi offered first-hand observations of the violence facing imprisoned protesters. He began by acknowledging the surrealism of the moment. “Jared was my pro bono lawyer who dedicated the better part of a decade fighting to get me out of that hellhole of Evin Prison,” he said. “And Morad was my cellmate for years. He’s family at this point.”
Political prisoners and people with dual nationality are held in Evin Prison. Reported abuses include:
- Prolonged solitary confinement
- Torture and coercive interrogations
- Hostage-taking as a tool of statecraft
- Psychological abuse
“What I take away from my eight years at Evin is that this regime is far more corrupt than we imagine,” said Namazi.
Tahbaz described the way the Iranian regime uses hostage taking and imprisonment as key tools of stagecraft. “They create a story that there was suspicious history before the arrest, they pitch this story to the state-controlled media, and by the time you are in prison, everyone thinks you’ve done something bad, or you wouldn’t be here.”
Sadly, he said, there is no way of punishing the regime for taking hostages. “I can tell you that I have had discussions with the senior members of both the Biden and current administration about this,” said Tahbaz.
Namazi reminded the audience of U.S. involvement right now. “The president of the United States urged the Iranian people to stay out in the streets, promising that the calvary is on the way,” said Namazi. “Many listened. They went out to the streets and got slaughtered. The calvary never came.”
Now he said, the international debate has shifted to Iran’s nuclear capability and missiles. “Whether there will be a deal with the U.S. or a military strike, neither of those moves will undo the carnage that already took place,” Namazi said.
The discussion is available on the IOP YouTube page.
Photo caption: Mourners gather at Behesht Zahra Cemetery to honor protesters killed during anti-government demonstrations, on February 18, 2026, in Tehran, Iran.
Photography from Getty Images