Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, once again condemned the destruction of Section 41 of Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery in southern Tehran and rejected the explanations offered by officials of Iran’s regime to justify the act.
Sato wrote on X on Friday, November 14, that she and other UN experts had condemned the destruction of Section 41 of Behesht-e Zahra in a letter addressed to officials of Iran’s regime.
She added that reports also indicate the destruction of the graves of those killed during the 2022 protests and the victims of the downing of the Ukrainian airliner.
به همراه سایر کارشناسان سازمان ملل تخریب قطعهٔ ۴۱ بهشتزهرا در تهران را محکوم کردیم.
در اوت ۲۰۲۵ (مرداد ۱۴۰۴) ، گزارش شد که مقامات این بخش را تخریب کردهاند و قصد دارند آن را به پارکینگ تبدیل کنند؛ با این توجیه که این قطعه «رها شده» است، ادعایی که خانوادهها بهشدت آن را رد می…
— Mai Sato (@drmaisato) November 14, 2025
The letter, dated October 30, was signed not only by Sato but also by Alexandra Xanthaki, Special Rapporteur on cultural rights; Gabriella Citroni, from the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and Bernard Duhaime, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth and justice.
On August 19, Davoud Goodarzi, deputy to Tehran’s mayor Alireza Zakani, announced that the municipality had turned the burial site of political prisoners executed in the 1980s into a parking lot in Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery.
This section is the burial site of hundreds of members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the largest opposition group.
The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran continued in her message on X: “As explained in our correspondence with the Government of Iran, international law obliges states to investigate potentially unlawful deaths, preserve evidence, and ensure respectful treatment of human remains.”
Sato added: “Destroying these sites erases not only individual stories but also collective memory. The destruction of such places constitutes a violation of international law and deepens the suffering of families.”
Section 41 of Behesht-e Zahra is one of the most well-known burial sites of opponents and critics of Iran’s regime; a place where many political prisoners executed over the past decades, especially members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, are buried.
This section is referred to as the “execution section,” and it is said that in addition to MEK members, several individuals connected to the Nojeh coup attempt as well as some business owners executed in the early years after the 1979 revolution are also buried there.
From the early years following the 1979 revolution, this site has continuously faced destruction, desecration, and severe restrictions imposed on families and survivors.
Before the latest wave of destruction, graves in this area and in similar cemeteries had been repeatedly subjected to damage, desecration, and successive cycles of destruction over past decades.
