US court allows torture case against Iran's former spy chief to proceed

Two refinery workers in southern Iran died of suspected heatstroke while on the job amid soaring summer temperatures, Iranian media reported.

ILNA news agency said Ali Mousavi, a contractor at South Pars Phase 13, collapsed from heat-induced cardiac arrest, while labor sources said Jamshid Asadi, a Bandar Khomeini petrochemical worker, also died the same day.

Authorities disputed heat as the cause in the latter case, citing pre-existing illness. Experts have long warned of deadly risks for outdoor laborers in Iran’s hot, humid south.

Summer temperatures in Iran's Bushehr province, a major hub for the country's oil and gas production, are extremely hot. Average daytime temperatures from June to August often range from 38°C to 48°C (100°F to 118°F), regularly exceeding 40°C (104°F).

The unanimous Ontario Court of Appeal decision leaves intact a 2024 ruling that found the airline negligent for allowing the flight to depart despite escalating military tensions in the region.

Just minutes after takeoff, two Iranian surface-to-air missiles struck the Boeing 737, killing all 176 people on board, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. Many others had deep ties to Canada.

The case hinged on the Montreal Convention, an international treaty governing air travel. The convention caps airline liability at US$180,000 per passenger unless the carrier is found negligent, in which case full damages may be awarded.

Last year, an Ontario judge concluded that UIA failed to conduct a proper risk assessment before the flight left Tehran, falling short of the “standard of care” required under international law. That finding meant the airline could not rely on the treaty’s liability limit.

Families: Ruling doesn’t diminish Iran’s responsibility

The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims welcomed the decision but stressed that it does not absolve Iran or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which fired the missiles.

The group noted the ruling addresses only the airline’s responsibility for assessing conflict-zone risks, not Iran’s culpability in the attack.

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  'Lies Are Spreading' About PS752 Court Ruling - Victim Family Member

They also highlighted that the lower court dismissed Iran’s official explanation — blaming “human error” — as implausible, calling its report flawed and contradictory.

Lawyers Paul Miller and Jamie Thornback, who represent some of the families, called the decision “a landmark.” In a joint statement, they said, “At a time of heightened conflicts around the world, the judgment sends a clear message to international airlines that open airspace cannot be assumed to be safe airspace. Airlines must exercise extreme caution and diligence when operating in or near a conflict zone.”

Accountability efforts continue in international courts
Separate legal proceedings against Iran remain underway at the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court.

Canada, along with the UK, Sweden and Ukraine, has pledged to continue pressing for accountability under international law, though those cases are expected to take years.

The ruling follows the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2024 decision not to hear an appeal from families seeking to enforce a $107 million default judgment against Iran. That effort was blocked after an Ontario court ruled Iranian assets in Canada were protected by diplomatic immunity.

The families said in a statement that they hope the ruling will help prevent similar tragedies in the future.

At least 284 Baha’is were arrested and 270 were summoned to security or judicial institutions in Iran between August 2020 and 2025, the US-based rights group said on Monday.

Other violations of Baha’i rights in Iran over the same period included 419 cases of home searches, 147 trials, 127 travel bans, 108 prison sentence enforcements, 106 denials of education and 57 restrictions on economic activities, it added.

The Bahaʼi faith emerged in nineteenth century Persia, challenging Islamic orthodoxy with its teachings on universal religion and progressive revelation.

Iranian authorities perceive it as a threat to religious and political control, calling it a false religion and a cult.

Over the past five years, 388 Baha’is in Iran have been sentenced by judicial or security institutions to a total of 17,948 months of imprisonment, HRANA reported, equivalent to 1,495 years and 8 months.

Additionally, 91 individuals were fined about 503 billion tomans ($12 million), and 103 were deprived of social rights. Twenty-five individuals were sentenced to 600 months of exile, HRANA said.

Imprisoned for being Baha’i

Many Baha’i prisoners received long-term sentences during this period, often without fair trial procedures and based on charges such as “propaganda against the regime” or “forming illegal groups.”

The figures include 17,324 months of mandatory imprisonment and 624 months of suspended sentences.

The HRANA report identified 2023 as the most repressive year, with 162 documented violations, and 2024 as having the highest number of arrests 76, and a total of 5,220 months of imprisonment.

Other forms of pressure

Beyond judicial prosecution, Baha’is in Iran face other forms of repression, including economic and educational exclusion, interference with burials, cemetery destruction, and property confiscation, HRANA reported.

The pressure and harassment have intensified in recent years, with Baha’is facing more security and judicial actions than any other religious minority in Iran.

Over the past three years, an average of 72% of all reported religious minority rights violations in Iran have targeted Baha’is, HRANA reported.

The 1979 constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes only Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism as official religions.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has on several occasions called the Baha’i faith a cult, and in a 2018 religious fatwa, he forbade contact including business dealings with its followers.

Iran's ministry of Intelligence said last month it had made arrests targeting the Baha'i religious minority, evangelical Christians, foreign-based dissidents, Sunni Muslim jihadists, separatists, monarchists and media organizations acting in league with Israel as part of its post-war crackdown.

"The United States of America calls on Iran to immediately halt these executions, release all those unjustly detained, and end its campaign of repression against those seeking their fundamental freedoms," the State Department said in a post on its Persian-language X account.

The protests erupted nationwide in 2022 after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in morality police custody after she allegedly violated hijab rules. Hundreds of demonstrators were killed and thousands arrested in a sweeping crackdown.

Demonstrator Mojahed (Abbas) Kourkour was hanged in June after what Amnesty International decried as a "sham" trial.

The rights group said he was subjected to enforced disappearance, tortured into making televised confessions and denied a lawyer during the investigation. His execution, it added, was "utterly appalling" and aimed to crush dissent and instill fear.

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  Iran hangs man convicted in connection with 2022 protests

Six men face execution after being convicted of killing a member of Iran's domestic enforcement militia in Tehran in the 2022 protests. One of their lawyers said last week that Iran’s Supreme Court has yet to respond to their appeal.

Last week, two Kurdish brothers from western Iran — civil activist Amirali Zakerifard, 44, and his brother Emad — who were charged for their participation in the 2022 protests, were sentenced to a combined 65 years in prison and 148 lashes.

Rights groups say the charges include insulting Islamic sanctities and assembly and collusion against national security.

They say the recent wave of repression is not only linked to the Woman, Life, Freedom protests but has also intensified under the pretext of security following a June war with Israel, disproportionately targeting ethnic and religious minorities.

Between June 13 and August 10, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) documented at least 58 arrests and eight new death sentences, including several people from Kurdish minority.

Since 2022, Iranian authorities have executed 11 people over the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, with many more at risk.

Police spokesman Saeed Montazeralmahdi told state media the arrests followed 7,850 reports to the national emergency line 110. “The 41% increase in public calls and the arrest of 21,000 suspects in the 12-day war shows the high level of vigilance and participation of the people in ensuring security,” he said.

Montazeralmahdi said officers had set up more than 1,000 tactical checkpoints across the country during the conflict, deploying over 40,000 police for round-the-clock road and site security.

He said security forces thwarted “field conspiracies by the enemy,” including the disruption of a planned gathering in Tehran’s Palestine Square.

The police spokesman also reported the detention of 127 escaped prisoners during an incident at Evin prison, and the seizure of unexploded bombs.

Authorities detained 2,774 undocumented foreign nationals, finding 30 “special security” cases through phone checks, and arrested 261 people on suspicion of espionage and 172 for alleged unauthorized filming, he added.

However, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had given a far lower figure, saying that “around 2,000 people” were arrested during and after the conflict, some of whom face the death penalty on charges of “organizational collaboration with the enemy.”

“In our law, anyone who cooperates with a hostile state during wartime must be arrested and prosecuted,” Ejei told state TV late in July. He said some detainees had been released after investigations found no evidence of espionage, while others were freed on bail but remain under suspicion.

The judiciary says trials are being fast-tracked under wartime procedures.

UN experts, including the special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, have urged Tehran to halt what they called a “post-ceasefire crackdown,” citing the arrests of hundreds of journalists, rights defenders, social media users, foreign nationals – particularly Afghans – and members of Baha’i, Kurdish, Baluchi and Ahwazi Arab minorities.

Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based NGO, said 21 people were executed during the June conflict period, including six accused of spying for Israel.

The arrests come as President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government faces a backlash over internet restrictions imposed during the war and a now-withdrawn cybercrime bill that critics said would have criminalized dissent.

The draft law, “Combating the Dissemination of False Content in Cyberspace,” proposed prison terms, fines and bans for online users, with harsher penalties during “crisis or wartime.”

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said last month the cabinet withdrew the bill “in line with national cohesion and on the president’s directive.” Critics argued its vague language, including phrases such as “distorted, misleading, and harmful to public perception,” would have enabled arbitrary prosecutions.