From Rage to Justice: Iran’s Reckoning
On the first day of the conference "Justice in Transition: Challenges and Solutions", held at the University of Oslo by the Iran Human Rights organization, a panel discussion explored the most pressing question facing Iran’s future: how to transform decades of rage into justice without descending into cycles of revenge.
The session brought together three speakers: Farhad Sabetan, economist at California State University; Ladan Bazargan, member of the “Revolutionary Council of Justice-Seeking Families”; and Afrooz Maghzi, a researcher at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg and a practising lawyer in Iran. The discussion was moderated by Roya Karimi-Majd, a journalist with Radio Farda.
Bazargan, speaking on behalf of families of executed political prisoners, drew a sharp distinction between what she termed “revolutionary justice-seeking” and more traditional human-rights approaches. For her, justice in Iran can no longer appeal to the existing judiciary. “Our demand is no longer directed at the Islamic Republic,” she said. “We appeal to the people, not to a system built on fatwas.” Her words echoed the long history of the “Mothers of Khavaran,” who have campaigned for truth and accountability since the mass executions of 1988.
Sabetan addressed the plight of Iran’s Baha’i community, long subjected to systemic discrimination. He emphasised that Baha’is seek no privileges beyond equality before the law: “What we demand is to be treated like every other citizen, neither more nor less.” The structural problem, he noted, is that Baha’i identity itself is criminalised. Official documents frequently label defendants as members of a “misguided sect,” attaching fabricated charges of espionage or threats to national security. For transitional justice to succeed, he argued, Iran’s future constitution must recognise Baha’is as full citizens with equal rights.
Maghzi focused on the role of lawyers. Despite decades of repression—including arrests, imprisonment and disbarment of rights lawyers—she highlighted a growing generation of young Iranian lawyers willing to defend protesters and political detainees. “Even when barred from courtrooms, lawyers have kept the memory of abuses alive,” she said, citing examples from Chile and South Africa. Yet she warned that new legislation undermining the independence of the Bar could cripple future accountability. “Without an independent legal profession, transitional justice risks becoming hollow,” she cautioned.
Questions from the audience pushed the panel towards the most difficult dilemmas. Could apologies by perpetrators or lower-level officials ever satisfy bereaved families? Bazargan was unequivocal: “Saying ‘sorry’ is not enough. Justice requires trials, responsibility, and consequences. Otherwise crimes will be repeated, and reconciliation will remain out of reach.” She acknowledged the immense anger among Iranians—especially after the killing of dozens of children in recent protests—and insisted that justice must channel that fury into structured accountability rather than personal revenge.
Maghzi agreed, pointing to Chile’s failed truth commission of the 1990s, where half the members had supported Pinochet and the names of perpetrators were omitted. Real justice, she argued, requires independence and courage, not political compromise.
The panelists also discussed personal experiences, including Bazargan’s confrontations with the family of Hamid Nouri, an Iranian official convicted in Sweden for his role in the 1988 executions. Attempts to engage calmly, she said, were met with denial and intimidation. “If justice for you only means justice for your father, you have understood nothing of justice,” she told them in court. Such episodes, she warned, foreshadow the tensions Iran will face in its own transition.
In closing, the three speakers converged on a central point: transitional justice is not a legal mechanism alone but a cultural process. It demands truth-telling, trials, reparations and, above all, public engagement. Sabetan stressed that conferences such as this are vital for educating Iranians that post-transition society need not collapse into chaos. Maghzi underlined the need for clarity in concepts—such as forgiveness—so that they are not distorted. Bazargan insisted that only by facing the truth of 44 years of crimes can national anger be transformed into the foundation of democracy.
The challenge, then, is not only to design institutions but to channel fury into justice. In Iran’s case, the road from rage to reconciliation will be long, fraught, and essential.
Translated from Farsi via machine translation and lightly edited for clarity.