dealing, theft, adultery, “flouting” of public morals, illegitimate relationships, and mixing of the
sexes in public.5
In 2002, then-Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, issued a ban on stoning6 however,
under the Islamic Penal Code (2013) it remains as a punishment for the act of adultery
committed by a woman and a man who meet the condition of ehsan.7 8 The practice reportedly
continued despite the issuance of the ban.9
Iranian authorities do not systematically or thoroughly release information on corporal
punishment sentences or their implementation. Reports of cases sentenced to flogging rarely
appear in the Iranian media, usually as they occur in small towns and villages.10 However,
reports indicate that Iranian authorities have regularly resorted to corporal punishments, in
particular to flogging. Over 100 flogging sentences and 19 sentences of amputation were issued
over the course of 2017.11 12 13 14 In 2020, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center documented 160
flogging sentences. 15
Despite the existence of several mechanisms that ostensibly accept complaints regarding
violations of citizens' rights, such as the Parliament’s Article 90 Commission (established under
Article 90 of the Constitution, offering a mechanism to citizens to file complaint against any of
the three branches of power) and the Oversight Bodies for the exercise of Citizenship Rights in
the country's provincial courts, there is no evidence to suggest that complaints to these bodies are
independently reviewed and investigated.16 Additionally, as corporal punishments are enshrined
in Iranian law, avenues for redress and rehabilitation are severely limited.
5
For a list of acts punishable by flogging in Iranian law, see: Abdorrahman Boroumand Center
https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3643
6
European Parliament Report, 2003, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A52003-0334+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
7
The condition of ehsan is described under Article 226 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code, English translation, Iran Human Rights
Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/english-translation-of-books-i-ii-of-the-new-islamic-penal-code/
8
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/
9
Iran Human Rights, https://iranhr.net/en/articles/603/
10
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
11
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
12
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3126 ; See also Abdorrahman Boroumand
Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3270
13
See Amnesty International urgent action: https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3587
14
See Arya News Service, translated by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3190
15
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/projects/flogging
16
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
2