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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, as Iran continues to face international scrutiny over its treatment of individuals detained during January’s nationwide protests.
According to the official UN readout of their meeting, Guterres emphasized the humanitarian and economic repercussions of Iran’s ongoing conflicts and reiterated the importance of diplomatic solutions and adherence to international law.
However, the statement notably omitted any reference to Iran’s handling of protesters, including reports of executions, alleged torture, or widespread detentions—a silence that drew criticism from rights advocates and journalists.
At a subsequent UN press briefing, when questioned by Fox News Digital about whether Guterres had directly addressed these concerns with Pezeshkian—and why such topics were excluded from the formal summary—his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarrac, offered no additional comments beyond repeating the official readout.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (L) shakes hands with the United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the UN’s General Assembly on September 25, 2025, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Despite the lack of detail in the readout, Dujarrac clarified that Guterres had previously raised related matters with senior Iranian officials during bilateral discussions in New York and elsewhere.
“In other meetings with senior Iranian leaders, in New York and other places, the Secretary-General has raised those issues directly,” Dujarrac stated. “From this podium, on behalf of the Secretary-General, we have condemned in no uncertain terms the use of the death penalty in Iran, as we stand against the death penalty in every country.”
The broader context of Iran’s post-protest crackdown remains grim. Human rights organizations continue to document mass arrests, judicial persecution, and an alarming reliance on capital punishment following the unrest sparked earlier this year.
Iran International reported on August 7, referencing various rights groups, that over 60,000 people were detained across Iran after the demonstrations—a figure some independent sources suggest may exceed 100,000 when including summonses, interrogations, and arrests.
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Iranian security forces allegedly killed detainees and burned bodies during protests, with clashes continuing in Kermanshah, Rasht and Mashhad despite government claims. (NCRI)
In Ardabil province alone, approximately 800 individuals were arrested during the protests, according to reports citing the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). By early August, at least 54 detainees remained imprisoned in Ardabil, including 29 who had yet to receive a court hearing.
New data published by HRANA in its September 1 monthly report revealed that 78 executions took place across Iran in August—including two linked to the January protests. During the same period, Iranian courts handed down 21 death sentences, among them 10 defendants involved in an Isfahan case tied to the demonstrations.
The watchdog organization also recorded six instances of forced confessions, four cases involving physical abuse of prisoners, four transfers to solitary confinement, and nine incidents where detainees were denied access to legal representation.
On August 31, HRANA disclosed that 13 individuals arrested in connection with the January protests were sentenced to a cumulative total of 24 years, three months, and one day in prison. Four of these defendants also received a combined sentence of 196 lashes, while one was additionally ordered to serve two years of internal exile.
Capital punishment continues to play a central role in the government’s response. Iran International reported on August 26—citing HRANA—that two more protesters detained during the January uprising had been sentenced to death.
That same report referenced findings from the U.S.-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, which documented 950 executions in Iran since the beginning of 2026, including at least 30 involving protesters.
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Seyed Ahmad Seyedabdollahi, a 32-year-old Iranian psychologist, whose case Fox News Digital reported in August, was arrested ten days after posting a video urging then-U.S. President Donald Trump to support Iranian protesters. He was later sentenced to seven months in prison and banned from government and public sector work for five years. (Fox News)
Among those currently incarcerated is Seyed Ahmad Seyedabdollahi, a 32-year-old psychologist whose story was previously covered by Fox News Digital in August.
He posted an English-language appeal to President Donald Trump on January 4, urging continued U.S. support for Iranian demonstrators. Just ten days later, he was arrested and ultimately sentenced to seven months behind bars along with a five-year ban from government employment and public services.
Seyedabdollahi’s family alleges that Iranian authorities attempted to coerce him into recording a new video denigrating Trump and the United States. While Fox News Digital could not independently verify these claims, IranWire reported on August 11 that security personnel instructed him to recite a prewritten anti-Trump message on camera—which he refused repeatedly despite threats and pressure.
His relatives further claim that Seyedabdollahi endured solitary confinement and torture during his detention. The Hana Human Rights Organization reported on August 9 that he had been held at Borujen Prison since July 7 and that authorities initiated a second case against him on charges of “propaganda against the system of the Islamic Republic.”
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Iran publicly hanged Abolfazl Sepahi-Badjani Tuesday over his alleged involvement in the January nationwide anti-government protests. (Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA))
The status of detained protesters also resurfaced during a session of the UN Security Council, where France assumed the rotating presidency for September. Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont serves as the council’s president for the month.
When asked by Fox News Digital whether France intended to raise issues concerning Iranian detainees—particularly amid reports of torture and executions—during its tenure, Bonnafont acknowledged the gravity of the situation but indicated that the council’s primary focus would center on Iran’s nuclear program.
“You referred to the matter of the civilian population in Iran,” Bonnafont said, per a translated account of his remarks. “They are the victims of choices made by the Iranian authorities for years, with these episodes of mass repression you mentioned.”
Morad Tahbaz—an Iranian-American environmentalist who spent years imprisoned in Iran prior to his release in a 2023 prisoner swap with the United States—previously shared harrowing details of life inside Iran’s prison system with Fox News Digital.
According to Tahbaz, he was kept in isolation for four months in a cramped cell illuminated by a light that never turned off. He was permitted outside his cell only twice daily for approximately ten minutes and was consistently blindfolded during those movements.
He described the IRGC intelligence wing at Tehran’s Evin Prison as “probably the harshest and toughest imprisonment that any prisoner will go through.”
For Tahbaz, perhaps the most distressing aspect of captivity was the uncertainty that followed even the completion of a sentence. “When you are a hostage … [you don’t know that] at the end of your term they’ll necessarily let you go,” he explained. “They’ll just come up with another charge to keep you there for as long as you’re of value to them.”
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Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian American conservationist, spent nearly six years in Iran’s Evin Prison before being released alongside four other Americans in September 2023. (Morad Tahbaz)
Efrat (Effie) Lachter is a reporter for Fox News Digital with over 15 years of experience covering conflict, global affairs, human rights, and political accountability. Her career includes directing and producing more than 200 documentary segments across over 40 countries, focusing on wars, humanitarian crises, corruption, human trafficking, gender-based violence, and the personal stories behind global headlines.
Lachter’s fieldwork has taken her into active conflict zones and emergency zones across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Her investigations have exposed human trafficking rings, revealed an ISIS-operated torture facility in Syria, chronicled the war in Ukraine, and secured interviews with top political leaders worldwide. She was also among the few Western journalists to enter Russia following the start of the war to gather testimonies from Putin’s domestic opposition.
A recipient of the 2022 Peres Center for Peace Award and a 2023–2024 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan, Lachter has earned two Rockower Awards for Excellence in Journalism. She holds both a bachelor’s degree in communication and a master’s degree in political science.
