The Iranian legal framework does not adequately protect individuals from torture and other-illtreatment and may well facilitate impunity. While Iranian laws provide for the accountability of officials and authorities who infringe individuals’ rights and punishes the use of torture in order to force confession, these provisions do not criminalize torture, nor do they use the term “torture”. The absence of a crime of torture under Iranian law prevents prosecution, which is limited only to cases of torture provided under the law. There are mechanisms competent to receive and investigate complaints of torture and illtreatment in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Supervision and Inspection Board, established under the Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Safeguarding Citizen’s Rights, monitors the compliance of policies and conducts with the law and confront those in breach. The Board’s missions include submitting “the complaints it receives to the relevant bodies and pursuing the investigation until it yields an outcome”, “deploying inspection groups to the bodies”, and “preparing reports on the implementation of laws in the country every three months and making them available to the public every three months.”6 The Supervision and Inspection Board also set up a database enabling victims and witnesses to submit their complaints. On the occasion of its 2019 Universal Periodic Review, the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that “the prosecutors, through judges stationed in prisons as well as the Secretariat of the Protection of Citizenship Rights and provincial supervisory boards, conduct regular inspections and investigate any reports or complaints” with regard to allegations of torture.7 There is no readily available information that might indicate that complaints have been properly investigated and adjudicated either by the Board or the Secretariat. Prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran are often exposed to the risk of being held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time. While Article 175 of Iran’s Prison Regulations stipulates that solitary confinement should not exceed 20 days,8 the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (or Nelson Mandela’s rules) consider solitary confinement longer than 15 days as prolonged solitary confinement. 9 The Human Rights Committee has stipulated that the prolonged solitary confinement of detainees may amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.10 Reports have shown that prolonged solitary confinement, sometimes lasting several month, is often used in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 6 See Executive By-law of Article 1(15) of the Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Safeguarding Citizens’ Rights, available at bit.ly/1nRuftq (accessed on 3 February 2016). 7 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, February 2020, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/43/12/Add.1 8 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF 9 Rule 44, Nelson Mandela’s Rules or UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Nelson_Mandela_Rules-E-ebook.pdf 10 General comment No. 20 (1992) on the prohibition of torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, para. 6. 2

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