UN Human Rights Council
UN Human Rights CouncilReuters

A collection of 34 human rights organizations have asked the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to continue examining human rights violations in Iran.

"When a country has about 900 political prisoners and 1,000 annual executions and refuses to cooperate with nearly every UN mechanism, the Human Rights Council needs to monitor it closely," said Mani Mostofi, the director of Impact Iran.

Alongside Impact Iran, the groups include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and more.

The groups are calling on the UNHRC to continue the mandate for the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran. The position was created in 2011 and must be renewed each year.

They wrote a letter to the international body, noting that "despite repeated recommendations from UN treaty bodies, the UN Secretary General and the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, no significant progress on human rights has materialized in Iran. Those living in the country continue to suffer from serious and systematic violations of their civil and political rights, while the economic, social, and cultural rights of several groups remain severely restricted."

The letter pointed out that the Islamic Republic executed about a thousand people last year, most for "drug-related offences in grossly unfair trials," as well as for vague crimes such as "enmity against God," "spreading corruption on earth," and "insulting the Prophet."

The signatories also warned about a host of other inhumane practices in Iran, including crackdowns on the freedom of expression and human rights defenders, torture, as well as violence and discrimination against women and minorities.