under the Islamic Penal Code (2013).19 The practice was reportedly upheld years after the
issuance of the ban.20
Iranian authorities do not systematically or thoroughly release information on corporal
punishment sentences or their implementation. Reports of flogging cases rarely appear in the
Iranian media, and they usually occur in small towns and villages.21 However, reports indicate
that Iranian authorities have regularly resorted to corporal punishments, in particular flogging.
Over 100 flogging sentences and 19 sentences of amputation were issued over the course of
2017.22 23 24 25 In 2020 the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center documented 160 flogging
sentences. 26
The Human Rights Committee has explicitly stated that flogging, amputation and stoning are not
compatible with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).27 The text of
Article 7 of the ICCPR allows for no limitation. Violation of jus cogens norms, such as the
prohibition of torture or other ill-treatment, cannot be justified on the basis of inconsistent
domestic laws.28
The Islamic Republic of Iran has not abolished provisions which authorize punishments such as
flogging, blinding, amputation and stoning of individuals.
Recommendation Status:
This recommendation has NOT been implemented.
19
Article 225, Islamic Penal Code (2013), English translation, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center,
https://iranhrdc.org/english-translation-of-books-i-ii-of-the-new-islamic-penal-code/
20
Iran Human Rights, https://iranhr.net/en/articles/603/
21
Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee, Abdorrahman Center, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC),
Impact Iran and Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCCPR%2fICS%2fIRN%2f42313
&Lang=en
22
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 12 March 2018,
https://undocs.org/A/HRC/37/68
23
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3126 ; See also Abdorrahman Boroumand
Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3270
24
See Amnesty International urgent action: https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3587
25
See Arya News Service, translated by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3190
26
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/projects/flogging
27
UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), CCPR/C/79/Add.85,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR/C/79/Add.85&Lang=en
28
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 27 September 2018,
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N18/300/93/PDF/N1830093.pdf?OpenElement
4